title: Pregnancy outcome, health of children, and family adjustment after donor insemination.
abstract: We evaluated the pregnancies of 427 women who conceived through artificial insemination by donor (AID) at our clinic over a 12-year period. Initial phone contact was followed by a questionnaire. Outcome was known for 594 of the 606 pregnancies, with a total of 502 live-born children including 15 sets of twins. The spontaneous abortion rate was 16.5%, with no difference between fresh- and frozen-semen pregnancies. Significant correlations were found between spontaneous abortion rate and maternal age (P less than .001) and spontaneous abortion rate and cycle of conception (P less than .025). Follow-up was completed on 481 children, among whom the following were found: one chromosomal anomaly, 22 major congenital anomalies, four children with possibly syndromic conditions, and 38 with minor congenital anomalies. Of the school-aged children, 5.8% had recognized learning disabilities and 10.5% were considered gifted by their schools. We also investigated the psychological impact of AID on each family. The majority of couples (71.7%) informed their obstetricians of the AID. Half of the couples did not tell any family or friends. Many couples did not (47%) or probably did not (14%) plan to tell their children of their origins. The divorce rate among those with AID children was 7.2%, which was significantly less (P less than .01) than that in a matched population. Psychological counseling specifically related to AID was sought by 2.8% of the couples. We conclude that AID children are at similar risk for congenital anomalies as normally conceived children, but they experience lower rates of family dissolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Amuzu
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laxova
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Shapiro
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000453:epidemiology; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000453:epidemiology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000209:etiology; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000523:psychology; D007316:Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome