Successful parents of in vitro fertilization (IVF): the social repercussions.

A matched comparison was made of 157 parents of preschool twins conceived by one of the following: in vitro fertilization (IVF), infertility workup combined with infertility drug treatment, or spontaneously. The Interview Schedule for Social Interaction was used to examine systematically a comprehensive range of social relationships and the asymmetries therein. Overall, IVF parents reported having deficient social relationships compared with non-IVF parents, and this deficiency was both in size and in affective quality of their available relationships.

Psychiatric morbidity in parents of twins born after in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques.

A matched comparison was made of 158 parents of preschool twins conceived under three conditions; spontaneously, after infertility workup including drug treatment, and after in vitro fertilization (IVF). Indications of probable psychiatric caseness were obtained using the 60-item General Health Questionnaire. IVF parents' mean scores were similar to those of parents who spontaneously conceived, and both were significantly greater than those who conceived after an infertility workup.

Empathic processes: perception by medical students of patients' anxiety and depression.

Perceptions by medical students of patients' affective states were investigated, and the effect of the students' own emotions on such perceptions. One hundred and one fourth-year medical students rated the levels of anxiety and depression of three women patients presented on videotape, rated their own levels of anxiety and depression and completed a questionnaire on aspects of the rating process. Students had widely different and often inappropriate perceptions of patients' levels of anxiety and depression.

Transplantation of kidneys from living related donors. Comparison with cadaveric kidney transplantation.

In a series of 271 transplantations of renal allografts, performed over 10 years, the rates of graft survival, patient survival, and morbidity in the recipients of allografts from living related donors (47 allografts) have been compared with those in the recipients of cadaveric allografts (224 allografts). The one-year graft survival rates were 88% for allografts from living related donors (100%, if these were HLA-identical) and 55% for cadaveric allografts, while the patient survival rates were 97% and 87%, respectively, in the same period. Morbidity rates (expressed as the number of days spent in hospital) for recipients of allografts from living related donors were approximately 50% of those for recipients of cadaveric grafts.