The Roma population's fear of donating their own organs for transplantation

The refusal rate for donating organs among the Roma people is much higher than that of any other social group.

To analyze the attitude towards the donation of one's own organs among the Roma population living in Spain.

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Spanish national observational sociological study stratified by gender and age.

Roma population aged ≥15 years living in Spain.

1,253 respondents. Assessment instrument: Validated questionnaire on attitude towards organ donation for transplantation "PCID - DTO Ríos". Field work: Random selection based on stratification. Anonymous and self-administered completion. The collaboration of people of Roma ethnicity was required.

Student's t test, χ², Fisher's exact test and a logistic regression analysis.

The degree of completion was 18.2% (n = 228). Of those who completed the questionnaire, 42.1% (n = 96) were in favor of donation, 30.3% (n = 69) were undecided and the remaining 27.6% (n = 63) were against it. Of the 1,025 (81.8%) who declined to complete the questionnaire, 1,004 (98%) indicated that it was for fear of speaking about and filling in a questionnaire that raises the issue of death and organ donation after death. If those who did not complete the questionnaire due to fear of death and donating organs after death are considered not in favor, the results would be as follows: 7.8% (n = 96) in favor of donating their organs compared to 92.2% (n = 1166) not in favor (against or undecided).

A majority of the Roma population prefer not speak of death nor organ donation after death. These findings show that current campaigns to promote organ donation are not effective in this population group.