Characteristics and Motivations of 132 Israeli Egg Donors and their Comparison with European Egg Donors

Introduction: Oocyte donation is on the rise in many countries. Since establishment of the Israeli Egg Donation law, little is known about the characteristics and motivations of the Israeli donors.

Aim: To learn about the characteristics of egg donors (EDs) and their motivation to donate oocytes and to compare these parameters with those of European EDs.

Material & Methods: At the first visit the patient was asked about anamnestic, educational and socio-demographic details. A thorough interview by a psychologist further cleared her motivations and then she was approved by a commission.

Results: 132 EDs were interviewed between 7/ 2012 and 12/2016. In the following results numbers in brackets [ ] are the data of EDs in the European Countries. The mean age of the donors was 27.8±3.98 years [27.4±4.0]. 71 (53.8%) of the 132 donors were unmarried [38.9%]. 20 (15.2%) were married and 41 (31.1%) divorced. Among the married donors, 90.2% were with one or two children. 90% of the divorced donors had between 1-4 children. Three (2.3%) were orthodox donors. Four (3.0%) were lesbian, [3.8%]. 48(36.4%) EDs were students or with academic degree [32.7%]. The motivations were gathered into three groups: financial, willing to help the recipient (altruism) or the combination of both. The motivation among 55 (41.7%) donors was financial [11%], altruism among 15 (11.4%) donors [48%] and 64 (48.5%) due the combination of both [34%]. 47.8% were donating for the first time [55.4%], 30.4% for their second time [20.3%] and three times in 21.7% of the cases [12.8%].

Conclusions: This information is presented for the first time. The study shows some important data such as donor`s age, (which is comparable with age of the European donors}, the ratio between the unmarried and married or divorced donors. The high percentage of students or donors with academic degree. The financial motivation was relatively high among the Israeli donors as compared with the European ones. Altogether, the social demographic characteristics of the Israeli egg donors are of good standard which is a promising massage for the recipients