title: Factors influencing the decision to use or discard cryopreserved embryos.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Couples' reasons for discarding supernumerary fertilized cryopreserved embryos and gender differences in attitudes toward the frozen embryos were investigated among Swedish couples undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) at a private clinic. At the time of the study Swedish law stipulated that couples could keep their frozen embryos for a maximum of one year, with the possibility of an extension based on individual requests.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire with structured and unstructured questions was sent to 124 women and 124 men who had entered the IVF treatment and obtained supernumerary embryos from 1 January 1994 to 1 March 1995. Eighty-two women and 74 men completed the questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After a mean storage time of 25.3 (+/-11.0) months 22 (26.8%) of the responding couples had their embryos discarded. The reasons were mainly practical, such as a positive outcome of IVF and a legally too short storage time. Comparisons between women and men showed that fewer women (13;17.6%) than men (20;27%) had been uncertain during the IVF treatment about using the frozen embryos at a later date and that men more often than women expressed anxieties about possible effects of the freezing procedure on the potential child (p=0.009).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A positive outcome of the original IVF treatment and a short maximum legal time of cryopreservation were the most common reasons why couples discarded their embryos. The men more often than women expressed anxieties about possible effects on a potential child. The results emphasize the need for giving detailed information to the couples about cryopreserved embryos and children born by this method.
authors.affiliation: Carl von Linné Kliniken, Uppsala Science Park, S-75183 Uppsala, Sweden. info.cvlk@linne.se
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Svanberg
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boivin
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bergh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015925:Cryopreservation; D019924:Embryo Disposition / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011309:Preservation, Biological; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D013997:Time Factors