Factors associated with brain donation among optimally healthy elderly people.
BACKGROUND
Consent rates for brain donation were examined in 140 healthy elderly participants of the Oregon Brain Aging Study, a longitudinal study of successful aging. Subjects were initially selected for good health. The study population had a relatively high education level, a high socioeconomic status, and were predominantly white.


METHODS
At each annual examination, a project physician asked participants to consider brain donation. This analysis examined variables that may affect the rate of brain donation consent: age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, marital status, religiosity, cognitive status, depression, and functional status.


RESULTS
Of these variables only age was a meaningful factor.


CONCLUSIONS
The oldest old participants (> or =85 years of age) were more likely to consent to donation than the younger participants (65-84 years of age).
Kaye
J A
JA
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Portland, Oregon, USA. kaye@ohsu.edu
Dame
A
A
Lehman
S
S
Sexton
G
G
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014019:Tissue Donors