F-2011-00117 – Egg donor information (existing children, OHSS and other health problems)
10 May 2011
Summary of request
The Authority was asked for the number of women who donated eggs for use in another’s treatment since 1991 and of these how many had their own children. Also, the number of such women who a) developed OHSS, b) developed health problems and c) had an overnight stay in hospital as a result of preparation for their donation.
HFEA response
Between 1991 and June 2010 (the current period for which data is verified) 17739 women registered as egg donors and donated eggs for use in another’s treatment. Of these, 10704 reported having their own children when they registered. Please note that women who donated eggs for use in another’s treatment via an egg sharing arrangement are also categorised as donors. There are further figures relating to donor registrations readily available on our website at: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/3412.html .
The Authority does not hold data about the total number of egg donors who develop OHSS, heath problems or who undergo an overnight stay in hospital as a result of preparation for their donation. The HFEA Register does not enable reliable identification of clinically confirmed cases of OHSS, however, centres are required to report to the HFEA some information that is relevant to the request via adverse incident reports. The HFEA has issued a series of General Directions (http://www.hfea.gov.uk/188.html ) and Code of Practice guidance (http://www.hfea.gov.uk/2999.html) relating to the reporting of adverse incidents.
The current set of Directions defines an ‘adverse incident’ as including OHSS and since October 2009 centres have been required to report cases of OHSS that require a hospital admission and have a severity grading of severe or critical. We are aware that, although not required by Directions, centres also sometimes report when a donor has been involved and cases of only mild or moderate OHSS. We are also aware that some centres consistently report no adverse incidents.
The Authority estimates that the cost of complying with this part of the request, to analyse all incident reports between January 2002 (date of first incident report) and March 2011 for information that centres may have provided about the number of women who donated eggs for use in another’s treatment and a) developed OHSS, b) developed health problems and c) had an overnight stay in hospital as a result of preparation for their donation would, in conjunction with the first part of the request, exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 ('the Regulations').
The following advice was also given:
An analysis carried out in preparation for the recent SCAAC meeting on the 4th May 2011 of adverse incident reports between March 2010 and February 2011 showed 217 reported incidents involving OHSS. These covered a total of 227 cases of OHSS, 3 of which stated that they relate to egg donors.
The paper presented to the Scientific and Clinical Advances Committee on the 4th May is available on our website at: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/1127.html . The Committee’s discussion of the item will be published on the same page shortly.
Adverse incident reports for the years 2008 and 2009 show 64 and 114 reported cases of OHSS respectively. For reasons set out previously, we do not consider the figures above to be the true incidence of OHSS in donors and patients in general or admission to hospital as a consequence of OHSS.
Page last updated: 16 August 2012