Current attitudes toward organ donation after cardiac death in northwest China.

BACKGROUND: People's attitude toward organ donation after cardiac death (DCD) has not come to an agreement in different countries and regions. Influenced by the local culture in China for thousands of years, the general public has different ideas about this issue. The purpose of this study was to investigate the current attitudes trend and characteristics of transplantation with organs donated after cardiac death in northwest China.

METHODS: This largest single-center cohort study was performed by an interview or by telephone using a questionnaire. The family members of potential DCD donors were recruited from the First Affiliated Hospital, medical college of Xi'an Jiaotong University located in a metropolitan area of northwest China. The 12-item attitude questionnaire was specifically developed from the literature review with coordinator, physician, and donor's family feedback. The participants were asked to rate the queries on a 5-point Likert intensity scale.

RESULTS: The 174 participants included 56 (32.2%) women and 118 (67.8%) men. Most people were aged between 41 and 50 years (n = 63, 36.2%), 31 and 40 years (n = 59, 33.9%), and less than 30 years (n = 36, 20.7%). The top five attitudes of participants were the best person to suggest organ donation to a family was ranked as the DCD coordinator of Red Cross Organization (RCO, n = 160, 92%), donor is a hero (n = 143, 82.2%), honor to be a donor's family member (n = 136, 78.2%), improved relationship with colleagues (n = 124, 71.3%), and with recipient after donation (n = 123, 70.7%). The best person to suggest organ donation to a family was ranked as the coordinator of RCO (n = 160, 92%), doctor unrelated to transplantation (n = 104, 59.8%), social worker (n = 36, 20.7%), and doctor related to transplantation (n = 25, 14.4%). The top two reasons for non-consent to donation were that the family insisted on intact body after patient death and did not want to have surgery again (n = 51, 41.5%), and feared that they would be misunderstood by neighbors, relatives, and friends about donation (n = 28, 22.8%).

CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed initial attitudes toward DCD in China. Some data afford insight into the decision-making procedure. The concerns of potential DCD donors and their families may help professionals provide better interventions in the future.