Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep 10;9(9):e106845.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106845. eCollection 2014.

Organ donation in Switzerland--an analysis of factors associated with consent rate

Julius Weiss  1 , Michael Coslovsky  2 , Isabelle Keel  1 , Franz F Immer  1 , Peter Jüni  2 ; Comité National du Don d’Organes
Collaborators, Affiliations

Organ donation in Switzerland--an analysis of factors associated with consent rate

Julius Weiss et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background and aim: Switzerland has a low post mortem organ donation rate. Here we examine variables that are associated with the consent of the deceased's next of kin (NOK) for organ donation, which is a prerequisite for donation in Switzerland.

Methods and analysis: During one year, we registered information from NOK of all deceased patients in Swiss intensive care units, who were approached for consent to organ donation. We collected data on patient demographics, characteristics of NOK, factors related to the request process and to the clinical setting. We analyzed the association of collected predictors with consent rate using univariable logistic regression models; predictors with p-values <0.2 were selected for a multivariable logistic regression.

Results: Of 266 NOK approached for consent, consent was given in 137 (51.5%) cases. In multivariable analysis, we found associations of consent rates with Swiss nationality (OR 3.09, 95% CI: 1.46-6.54) and German language area (OR 0.31, 95% CI: 0.14-0.73). Consent rates tended to be higher if a parent was present during the request (OR 1.76, 95% CI: 0.93-3.33) and if the request was done before brain death was formally declared (OR 1.87, 95% CI: 0.90-3.87).

Conclusion: Establishing an atmosphere of trust between the medical staff putting forward a request and the NOK, allowing sufficient time for the NOK to consider donation, and respecting personal values and cultural differences, could be of importance for increasing donation rates. Additional measures are needed to address the pronounced differences in consent rates between language regions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Study flow chart.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Multivariable analysis of selected predictors.
Odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of a multivariable analysis for variables selected from previous univariable analyses. Variables with p<0.2 in the univariable analysis were selected. For hospital sizes, odds ratios to the reference level Small are given. In the plot, square size is proportional to the inverse variance.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. IRODaT (2013) Preliminary 2012 data. The International Registry in Organ Donation and Transplantation.
    1. Swisstransplant (2012) Jahresbericht 2011 [2011 annual report]. The Swiss National Foundation for organ donation and transplantation, Bern, Switzerland. Available: http://www.swisstransplant.org/. Accessed on 2013 December 4.
    1. Abouna GM (2008) Organ shortage crisis: Problems and possible solutions. Transplant Proc 40: 34–8. - PubMed
    1. Council of Europe (2012) International figures on donation and transplantation 2011. Newsletter Transplant 17.
    1. Matesanz R, Domínguez-Gil B, Coll E, de la Rosa G, Marazuela R (2011) Spanish experience as a leading country: What kind of measures were taken? Transpl Int 24: 333–43. - PubMed

Publication types