Behavior profile of family members of donors and nondonors of organs.
Organ transplant shortage is a global problem caused by several factors, most of which are related to members of the family, who play a major role in the donation process.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to determine the most determinant features in the donor profile that relate to positive decisions versus refusal of donation.


METHODS
Fifty-six families who were approached by the Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) from November 2004 to April 2006 agreed to participate in this work. To assess donor profiles, we used a structured interview.


RESULTS
Parental involvement directly in decisions about donation lead to significantly less frequent consent (P = .005), young donor age was associated with a reduced probability of donation (P = .002), violent death negatively influenced donation consent, excluding suicide (P = .004).


CONCLUSIONS
The present study showed violent death, young patient age, and parental donation consent to be the most important factors that make it harder to obtain consent organ donation. When a collateral relative (sibling/uncle) or children were responsible for the donation decision, there was more success of consent.
Moraes
B N
BN
Heart Institute (InCor) of the University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Heart Transplantation Unit, Sao Paulo, Brazil. bianca.nascimento@incor.usp.br
Bacal
F
F
Teixeira
M C T V
MC
Fiorelli
A I
AI
Leite
P L
PL
Fiorelli
L R
LR
Stolf
N A G
NA
Bocchi
E A
EA
D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001519:Behavior; D001926:Brain Death; D003657:Decision Making; D004522:Educational Status; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007258:Informed Consent; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D045808:Refusal to Participate; D012067:Religion; D014019:Tissue Donors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data