Teenagers' point of view on living donor kidney transplantation: Cinderella or princess?
Living kidney donation is an important clinical option, encountering different fortunes in the world.


OBJECTIVE
To analyse the opinions of a large subset of older teenagers attending high school (7999 students, median age 18) on different aspects of living kidney transplantation.


METHODS
Analysis of semistructured questionnaires submitted within an educational campaign on dialysis and transplantation in the high schools of Torino and its county (about 2,000,000 inhabitants).


RESULTS
Over 90% of the students had already heard of transplantation, mainly via television (88.4% county, 84.5% city). 80% would donate a kidney to a family member (3.5% wouldn't, 16.5% uncertain); answers were correlated with sex (females more than males p<0.0001), school type (istituti tecnici versus licei p=0.007), interest (yes versus other p<0.0001). A lower percent of individuals would receive a kidney (58.4% county, 59.4% city), only 10% would ask for donation. Over 40% of students consider legally buying a kidney a patient's right, only 26.6% would discourage this choice. The answers were correlated with the reverse pattern as for non-mercenary donation with type of school (licei more than istituti tecnici: p<0.0001), sex (males versus females p<0.0001), interest (not versus yes: p=0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Teenagers are favourable towards all forms of living kidney donation. The lower prevalence of positive answers on acceptance versus donation suggests that fears of endangering the donor's health may be one of the causes for a low living donation rate in our setting. The mixed answers on mercenary donation suggest discussing this complex issue in future educational programs.
Piccoli
Giuseppe
G
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Torino and Unit of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation, San Giovanni Battista Hospital, Torino, Italy. giuseppe.piccoli@unito.it
Segoloni
Giuseppe Paolo
GP
Soragna
Giorgio
G
Mezza
Elisabetta
E
Burdese
Manuel
M
Tognarelli
Giuliana
G
Putaggio
Stefania
S
Bergamo
Daniela
D
Consiglio
Valentina
V
Vespertino
Elisa
E
Bonetto
Antonella
A
Jeantet
Alberto
A
Piccoli
Giorgina Barbara
GB
Giacchino
Franca
F
Gai
Massimo
M
Dell'Olio
Rosanna
R
D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires