title: Beauty, brains or health: trends in ovum recipient preferences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  What do ovum donation (OD) recipients request most from their ideal donor: beauty, brains, health or physical self-resemblance? Previous data have shown recipients primarily requested "similar appearance or gene pool." We consider the possibility that these criteria may have changed due to a positive social shift towards OD participation and have evaluated recipients' requests for donor criteria over a span of 5 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Donor trait preferences of OD recipients (n=438) enrolled in a private, academic OD program from 2008-2012 were assessed in this retrospective cohort analysis. Requests were categorized by appearance, ethnicity, intellect, ability, and mental health. Statistical analyses were conducted by Cochran-Armitage trend tests with significance at p<0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of requests for "health" increased steadily from 2008 (50%) to 2012 (72%) (p<0.05). The percentage of requests for "intelligence" were highest in 2012 (55%), increasing from 2008 (18%) (p<0.05). Requests for "athletic ability" rose from 2008 (1%) to 2012 (17%) (p<0.05). Recipients requested a "similar gene pool" most in 2009 (40%) and least in 2012 (25%), though this trend did not reach statistical significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrates an increase in the percentage of OD recipients' requests for health, athleticism, and intelligence over our 5-year analysis. It appears that the current recipient is more likely to request a donor with practical traits that would serve their offspring overall quality of life rather than self-reflective traits such as physical resemblance or their genetic composition. We believe that improved awareness and acceptance of OD as a treatment of infertility will continue to inform practical considerations and approaches toward donor recruitment and the donor-recipient matching process.
authors.affiliation: 1 Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York , New York, New York.
authors.forename: Homero
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Purata
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Witkin
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sandler
authors.forename: Alan B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Copperman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D054874:Athletic Performance; D001290:Attitude; D001504:Beauty; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000628:therapy; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018587:Oocyte Donation / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D057240:Patient Preference; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D066027:Transplant Recipients / Q000523:psychology*