Knowledge and willingness toward living organ donation: a survey of three universities in Changsha, Hunan Province, China.

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to clarify the knowledge and attitudes of Chinese university students regarding living organ donation and analyze the determinants impacting their decisions.

METHODS: A questionnaire was delivered to college students chosen by random assignment. The data was analyzed by Statistics Package for Social Science (SPSS) software.

RESULTS: Of 434 participants, 49.8% indicated they would be willing to be living organ donors, 58.4% believed living organ donation could ease the organ shortage, 48.2% thought that the recovery rate of recipients of living organ donors transplants was equal to or even better than deceased donation, 62.4% designated relatives as their most probable recipients, 48.0% argued that partial compensation was an effective method to increase live organ donation, and 53.7% wished to donate through transplantation centers. According to univariate analysis, attitudes regarding the value of life, relationship between body integrity and health as well as body integrity and conventional culture were factors that impacted on an individual's decision. Students' knowledge of the value of living organ transplantation and their economic background were considered to be determinants of individual willingness. Furthermore, the operation's impact on quality of life and postoperative complications were additional concerns. Multivariate analysis indicated that other factors influencing students' willingness to donate included attitudes toward the relationship between body integrity and health, beliefs regarding body integrity and conventional culture, value of living donor organ transplantation, economic background of students, and anxiety about the impact on postoperative complications.

CONCLUSIONS: Numerous students were willing to participate in living organ donation. At the same time, social education and advertisements for living organ donation were far from adequate, having little or no influence on the decision-making process.