Dental Student Knowledge and Willingness to Donate Corneas

Our aim was to assess the knowledge and willingness to donate corneas among undergraduate dental students in Hyderabad city, India.

We conducted a cross-sectional study among undergraduate dental students of Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences (Hyderabad, India). A pretested questionnaire was used to obtain information on demographic details, knowledge of cornea donation (7 questions), and willingness to donate corneas (3 questions). For analyses, we used chi-square and multivariate modeling tests. P < .05 was considered significant.

Our study included 56 male (16.5%) and 284 female (83.5%) dental students. The overall mean number of correct answers for knowledge questions for this study population was 2.98 ± 1.43. A significant difference existed only for year of study (P < .001). Similar findings were noted when the study population was categorized into poor and good knowledge. The willingness to donate, which was referred to as a positive attitude, was expressed by 41%, with significance observed only for religion. The most common reason cited for unwillingness to donate was lack of sufficient information (52%). Regarding associations between ambiguity to donate and demographic factors, only religion was shown to be a significant factor.

Although approximately 66% of respondents had poor knowledge, 40% were willing to donate. When demographics were considered, year of study was significantly associated with knowledge and religion was significantly associated with willingness to donate.