Awareness of brain death and organ transplantation among select Indian population.
BACKGROUND
With the improvement in transplant technology major organ transplantation is gradually becoming the treatment of choice in many conditions. The present study assesses the awareness of the concepts of brain death and organ transplantation among public.


METHODS
Six hundred thirty six select populations, which included office-goers of Delhi, class 12th school children of a reputed public school and villagers, were interviewed to assess their knowledge in various aspects of brain death and organ transplantation.


RESULTS
There was widespread acceptance of organ transplantation among this population. The most alarming feature was that the awareness of the concept of brain death and its importance for organ donation was extremely low. Only small number of individuals were aware that brain death is legal in India. Awareness about brain death was especially low among villagers.


CONCLUSIONS
Education about various aspects of brain deaths, its immense importance for organ donation and legality of brain death in India needs to be highlighted.
Wig
N
N
Dept. of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Gupta
P
P
Kailash
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001926:Brain Death; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement