A study by a leading UK fertility centre has found that the numbers of men - especially students - coming forward as potential sperm donors fell sharply after 2000, almost certainly due to growing awareness that changes in the law would be removing the right to anonymity.
The fall in applications, leading to a significant decline in the numbers recruited, has prompted researchers from the <<>> to call for urgent action to attract more volunteers - particularly from among older men - and for fears over the release of donor information to be allayed.
The results of the study of over 1,100 potential donors who applied between 1994 and 2003 to the Newcastle centre are published on-line in Europe's leading reproductive medicine <<>>.
They reveal that 88% of applicants were aged under 36, more than half were students without a partner, 85% were unmarried and over three-quarters had no children. Nearly a third had defaulted along the way and almost two-thirds were rejected (85% of those because of sub-optimal semen quality). At the end of the recruitment and testing process fewer than four in a hundred (3.63%) were accepted as suitable donors.
Overall, there was a downward trend in the annual number of applicants from around 175 in 1994 to about 25 in 2003, with the sharpest fall occurring from 2000 onwards. From 1999, the numbers who changed their mind during the application and testing process rose. The acceptability rate of donors (donor release rate) also declined over the study period because of the introduction of stringent criteria aimed at improving standards of recruitment.
Lead author Dr Sudipta Paul, who is now locum consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at <<>> in Cumbria, said the study showed that the number of men interested in donating sperm had declined significantly, with a consequent reduction in the number recruited. This fall could continue due to the removal of anonymity for men recruited since April 2005.
He said: "The proposed changes in the <<>> review (SEED report) and the EU directive on standards relating to the handling and use of human tissues and cells may also lead to further reductions in donor treatment activity. On the other hand, the demand for donor sperm is likely to increase because of a possible decline in the semen quality in the general UK population."
The potential gap between supply and demand has led senior author Dr Jane Stewart, consultant gynaecologist and specialist in reproductive medicine at the Newcastle Fertility Centre at LIFE, to call for a change of tactics in recruiting donors.
"It is difficult and costly to recruit sperm donors. With the change in the anonymity rules coming we saw a sharp fall in numbers and a change in the profile of the applicants, perhaps reflecting the attitudes of different groups to anonymity. There was a significant increase in the number of men who had partners and, after the Department of Health announcement that anonymity would be removed, there was a substantial fall in the numbers of students."
The unit has been reviewing how it reaches potential donors. "We need to get to the right groups, including minority ethic groups, and inspire them to act," said Dr Stewart, who is also an honorary lecturer at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.