title: Deceased Organ Donor Characteristics and Organ Utilization in Israel, 2004-2013.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The number of patients awaiting organ transplantation continues to exceed the number of available organs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To document changes in the demographic characteristics of brain-dead, heart-beating organ donors over the past 10 years which may impact on organ utilization.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were extracted from the Israel Transplant Registry and the Donor Action database for the 10 year period 2004-2013, inclusive.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age of the donors increased from 44 (range 3-73 years) to 53.5 years (range 1-79 years) (P < 0.001). There was a significant increase in the median age of donors of kidneys (33 to 51 years, P < 0.001), livers (41 to 53 years, P < 0.001) and lungs (40 to 49.5 years, P < 0.001). The number of donors dying from trauma decreased (34.5% to 20%, P < 0.001), while those with anoxic brain damage increased (14.5% to 25%, P < 0.001). The percent of male donors decreased over the study period, from 63% to 53%. An increase was noted in the mean number of organs transplanted per donor, from 3.29 to 3.82 per donor, due mainly to a significant increase in the utilization of lungs (31.5% to 51.3%, P < 0.001) and livers (76.3% to 82.4%, P < 0.001) while heart utilization decreased significantly since 2006 (40.9% to 17.5%, P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Trends in the heart-beating, brain-dead organ donor pool in Israel over the past 10 years reveal significant changes in demographic characteristics which in the future will impact on the number of organs available for transplantation.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bistritz
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ashkenazi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001926:Brain Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult