[Cornea donation. Factors influencing consent]

Public attitudes toward corneal donation in northern Jordan

Purpose

The aims of this study were to assess the knowledge and attitude toward corneal donation among Jordanian population and to report the reasons which may influence subject’s decision and attitude toward corneal donation.

Methods

A self-designed questionnaire was developed. The participants were asked about reasons for both willingness and unwillingness to donate their corneas. These reasons were stated in the questionnaire and the participants had to express their agreement by one of five options: strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, or strongly agree.

Results

A total of 500 participants (218 males and 282 females) completed the questionnaire. The average age (±SD) of the study participants was 32.8 (±11.7) years. About 67.2% of the subjects were willing to donate their corneas, whereas 32.8% were not willing to do so. The main motive for willingness was doing a good deed by helping others to see. On the other hand, fear of the body being treated badly and that other organ might be taken than the ones specified for donation were the main reasons for unwillingness to donate corneas. The age of participants, gender, and the monthly income did not significantly influence the willingness to donate (P>0.05). However, the level of education had a significant influence on people’s decision to donate their corneas.

Conclusion

Many Jordanians have positive attitude toward corneal donations. Ethical factors need to be addressed to promote for corneal donation. In addition, increasing the awareness of donation and its benefits may help increase the supply of corneal tissues.

Cornea recipients: are their opinions and attitudes toward organ donation different from those of the general population?

BACKGROUND

Cornea transplantation provides a second chance for people with poor visual function. Unfortunately, there is a major shortage of donor cornea tissue. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitudes and willingness to donate organs among cornea transplant recipients.

METHODS

Sixty-eight patients who underwent cornea transplantation between January 2002 and May 2003 were asked to complete a questionnaire dealing with their attitudes toward cornea and organ donation, and willingness to donate an organ.

RESULTS

Religion was a contributing factor for a negative decision to donate organs. Only 29% of participants, most of whom were nonreligious were carrying a signed donation card. Fifty-eight percent of the patients knew that the cornea graft is derived from a deceased person; most of these patients were of European or American origin. Seventy-three percent knew that donation requires the agreement of a family member. Age, gender, marital status, and education were not significantly associated with attitude toward donation.

CONCLUSION

Stronger efforts are needed by transplant coordinators, physicians, and nurses to improve the education and knowledge of patients and their families about the basic aspects of transplantation. Greater public awareness may increase the willingness to donate organs.

The postmortem sociomedical interview: uncertainty in confirming infectious disease risks of young tattooed donors

PURPOSE

To assess the reproducibility of relatives' replies to questions asked at the time of corneal donation and again 2 months later concerning infectious disease risk factors and to identify characteristics associated with inconsistent responses.

METHODS

A reinterview study involving individuals who answered questions regarding an eye donor's sociomedical history within 1 day of the decedent's death and who consented to be recontacted 6 to 12 weeks later. The main outcome measures were frequency of answering differently on the same questions of infectious disease risk factors and the donors' and relatives' characteristics that predicted inconsistency.

RESULTS

Of 368 individuals who agreed to a reinterview, 263 (71.5%) completed and returned the survey questionnaire. Thirty-eight (14.4%) respondents answered differently on at least one question concerning infectious disease risk factors. The family of donors with a trauma-related death was 2.9 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.0-8.3] times more likely to give inconsistent responses. Different responses to behavioral questions occurred 22 (95% CI, 1.6-315) times more often by relatives of donors who were both younger than 40 years old and had a tattoo.

CONCLUSION

The postmortem sociomedical interview cannot assure complete knowledge of the risk of potentially transmissible disease of all donors. Relatives of young, tattooed donors tend to give inconsistent responses about infectious disease risk factors.