Relationships in oocyte recipient couples – a Swedish national prospective follow-up study

BACKGROUND: The long-term effect of treatment with donated oocytes on women’s and men’s perception of their relationship has been little studied. Thus the aim of this study was to analyse satisfaction with relationships in couples at the time of acceptance for treatment and 2–5 years after treatment with donated gametes and to compare them with IVF couples treated with their own gametes. METHOD: A prospective follow-up study in which data were collected twice on two groups; cohabitating couples receiving oocyte donation and cohabitating IVF couples using their own gametes. A standardised instrument, the ENRICH inventory, was used to gain information about the couples’ subjective experience of their relationships. RESULTS: At acceptance for treatment the couples in the two groups assessed their relationships as being very solid on all dimensions and that the women receiving treatment with oocyte showed a higher satisfaction compared to women treated with own gametes. For couples that did have a child, the group of women who had been through the oocyte donating program reported a better quality of their relationship than women in the control group. There were no significant differences in perceived relationship quality between men in the different groups, whether they had a child or not. CONCLUSIONS: From a long-term perspective couples using oocyte donation treatment have a balanced and solid view of their relationship and treatment, having children or not after treatment did not affect the nature of the relationships.