Abstract
Objective To assess medical and psychosocial screening and evaluation received by gestational carriers and compare those using agencies to those not using agencies. Design Cross-sectional questionnaire. Setting Not applicable. Patient(s) A total of 204 women who completed a survey on their experiences as gestational carriers in the United States. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Self-reported screening received before gestational carrier pregnancies. Result(s) Overall, 97.1% of gestational carriers had a complete medical evaluation and 94.6% had an evaluation or counseling by a mental health professional. Most participants indicated that they had been informed of at least some medical risks (92.6%) and psychological considerations (89.7%). Participants most often recalled being informed of the risks of multiple pregnancy (89.2%) and medical procedures and medications (87.2%), but least often recalled being informed about the risks of impact on their own employment (46.6%) and to their own children (61.3%). There were no differences in outcome measures between those using an agency and those who did not. Conclusion(s) Self-reported screening and evaluation was high, but still not 100% on all measures. Further education of providers regarding guidelines for the screening and evaluation of gestational carriers may be needed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1496-1502 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Fertility and Sterility |
Volume | 106 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 1 2016 |
Keywords
- Gestational carrier
- infertility
- screening
- surrogate
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Reproductive Medicine
- Obstetrics and Gynecology