African Americans' organ donor intentions: who has used which registration mode to express her or his intentions?

To describe the various means that African American adults had used to express their intention to become an organ donor, as well as to determine whether there were characteristics that distinguished those individuals who had expressed their intention from those individuals who had not.

Participants were 1 567 African American adults who resided in four urban areas in New Jersey.

From July 2005 to April 2006, university survey center interviewers conducted 7-minute, random-digit-dial telephone interviews.

Approximately 3.2 percent reported that they had donated an organ; 3.4 percent reported being an organ recipient; 11.4 percent reported that a family member had donated an organ or tissue; and 12 percent reported that a family member was a recipient. Forty-six percent reported that they had indicated their willingness to be an organ donor when they applied for a driver's license; 37 percent had done so by discussing their wishes with family members. Fewer had signed an organ donor card (21%) or had signed up with an organ donor registry (16%). A multiple logistic regression model revealed a negative association between the respondent's age and whether the respondent had expressed an intention to be a donor, and a positive association between having known a family member who had received or donated an organ and the respondent's intention. Neither gender nor marital status was associated with the intention to donate.

As the driver's license was the means favored by African Americans for declaring their intentions to be organ donors, motor vehicle registries appear to hold the greatest promise for documenting and communicating this intention.