The mental health of mothers and fathers during pregnancy and early parenthood after successful oocyte donation treatment: A nested case-control study

Introduction The aim of this study was to compare the mental health problems between parents after oocyte donation treatment, after in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) with own gametes and after naturally conceiving (NC). Material and methods Results This is a prospective, longitudinal questionnaire study. The study group consisted of 26 oocyte donation mothers and their matched IVF/ICSI (n = 52) and NC (n = 52) controls. Matching was performed according to mother's age, parity, type of pregnancy, and number of returned questionnaires. The parents filled-in the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-36) at gestational weeks 18-20 (T1), and at 2 months (T2) and 12 months (T3) after the childbirth. Full response rate (T1-T3) for oocyte donation mothers was 76.9% and for oocyte donation fathers was 73.1%. At T1, no significant differences were found between groups in depression, anxiety, sleeping difficulties, or social dysfunction, but they differed at T2 and T3 in anxiety (T2, P = .02; T3, P = .01), in sleeping difficulties (T2, P = .02; T3, P = .04) and in social dysfunction (T2, P = .01; T3, P = .04). Oocyte donation mothers showed less anxiety than NC mothers (T2, T3), and fewer sleeping difficulties and less social dysfunction than IVF/ICSI (T2, T3) and NC mothers (T2). Mental health problems of oocyte donation fathers did not differ from those of IVF/ICSI and NC control fathers at T1-T3. Conclusions Oocyte donation mothers showed fewer mental health symptoms in early parenthood compared with IVF/ICSI and NC mothers. No differences were found among mothers during pregnancy and among fathers at any time point.