Racial disparities in commercial U.S. oocyte donors.

Abstract

e18501 Background: Patients undergoing cancer treatment are more likely to face infertility. Despite improvements in counseling and fertility preservation, some oncology patients will require the use of donor oocytes to complete their family. We investigated whether the current cohort of commercial oocyte donors reflects the racial profile of the U.S. population. We also evaluated whether there were differences in donors’ perception of pain and quality of informed consent by race to elucidate potential avenues to improve donor retention. Methods: Institutional Review Board approved, retrospective survey of commercial, U.S. oocyte donors was emailed to recent donors recruited through Donor Egg Bank USA prior to 2020. There were 246 respondents out of 503 opened emails (48.9%). Donors were recruited by twenty different clinics that are affiliated with the same donor egg bank. Results: Black and Hispanic donors were significantly underrepresented among commercial U.S. egg bank donors while Caucasian and mixed-race donors were overrepresented (Table - left). The perception of pain in donors, however, did not differ according to race (Table - right, p = 0.245). Over 80% of donors reported that they had received better than acceptable levels of preparation through the informed consent process. Respondents’ report of the quality of the informed consent process did not differ by race (p = 0.728). Conclusions: Our study represents one of the largest cohorts of recent U.S. oocyte donors. The racial composition of recruited donors overrepresents Caucasian and mixed-race donors while underrepresenting Hispanic and Black donors when compared to the racial identity self-reported in the 2020 US census. This may represent the demographics of the current recipient cohort; however, the lack of diversity is of particular concern for oncology patients seeking oocytes as their racial composition likely reflects the diversity represented in the U.S. population. Notably, there was no difference by race in the pain score of donors by race or the quality of their informed consent process suggesting that all donors were treated similarly regardless of racial identity. Donor egg banks should consider diversification of their donor profiles to provide equal access among oncology patient seeking donor oocytes.[Table: see text]