Attitude of Older People Toward Living Donation

Living donation is a potential source of organs that could help to reduce the organ transplant deficit. Given that we have a worldwide aging population, it is important to assess the opinion of older people toward this type of donation.

To analyze the attitude of people aged > 65 years toward living kidney donation (LKD) and living liver donation (LLD) and to investigate the variables affecting their attitudes.

A multicentric study was carried out using a representative sample of people > 65 years stratified by sex and geographic location in southeastern Spain (n = 420). The measurement instrument was a validated questionnaire about LKD and LLD. Statistics were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, United States) software. Descriptive analysis was carried out using Student t test, χ² test, and a multivariate analysis.

The questionnaire completion rate was 84% (n = 351) with 88% (n = 310) in favor of LKD, and 89% (n = 311) in favor of LLD. Favorable attitude decreased to 3% when the donation under consideration was unrelated. Attitudes toward LKD and LLD were associated with having received information from the television (P = .016 and P = .045) and from friends (P = .017 and P = .03); accepting an autopsy after death (P = .001 and P = .002); and not being worried about scars (P = .015 and P = .044). In the multivariate analysis, the following variables continued to be significant: having received information from the television (odds ratio [OR], 2) and from friends (OR, 10.3); and the acceptance of an autopsy (OR, 2).

Older people are in favor of both LKD and LLD, assuming it is a related donation. In addition, the information the elderly population receives regarding organ donation and transplantation affects their attitudes.