[Personal and familial features associated with organ donation in Chilean adults]

The rates of organ donation are alarmingly low in Chile.

To determine the relationship between social and family characteristics that influence the decision to donate organs and tissues among adults.

The questionnaire developed in Spain by the international collaborative project on organ transplantation and donation, developed and validated in Chile was applied to 383 adults aged 40 ± 17 years (mostly women), living in Coquimbo, Chile.

Seventy seven percent of respondents would agree to be a donor. The main features of eventual donors are: being young adult in 62% of respondents, single in 48%, with complete secondary education in 29%, non-practicing Catholic in 37% and being informed on television about transplantation in 66%. In a logistic regression model, the features significantly associated with being an eventual donor were the decision of donating organs of relatives (Odds Ratio [OR] 9.1 95% confidence intervals [CI] 4.8-17-2), commenting and knowing the opinion of relatives (OR 2.3 95%CI 1.2-4.1), especially parents and partner, and a lower age (OR 0.98 95% CI 0.96-0.99).

The decision to donate organs is influenced by commenting and knowing the opinion of relatives, especially parents and partners. Also, a lower age is associated with a better attitude towards donation.