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. 2025 Jan 11;26(1):2.
doi: 10.1186/s12910-025-01163-y.

Public awareness, attitudes, and motivation toward biobanks: a survey of China

Mingtao Huang #  1 , Lanyi Yu #  1 , Xiaonan Wang  1 , Kun Li  1 , Jichao Wang  1 , Xinrui Cheng  1 , Xiaomei Zhai  2
Affiliations

Public awareness, attitudes, and motivation toward biobanks: a survey of China

Mingtao Huang et al. BMC Med Ethics. .

Abstract

Background: Biobanks are vital for advancing medical research, and public participation is a crucial determinant of their success. This study uses a survey to assess the awareness, attitudes, and motivation of the public in China with regard to participating in biobanks.

Methods: We conducted an online survey that yielded 616 responses from participants with diverse demographic backgrounds. The survey included questions on the respondents' awareness of biobanks, their attitudes toward them, their preferences with regard to consent, and their concerns.

Results: The results of the survey revealed that 57.95% of the respondents were aware of biobanks. Altruism was the respondents' primary motivation for participation in biobanks. Their preferences for models of consent varied. The respondents raised concerns about the commercialization of biobanks (56.66%) and data privacy (55.84%). Notably, only 37.01% of the respondents were concerned about the risk of discrimination in biobanks, where this was lower compared with the results for populations in Western countries.

Conclusions: This study provides valuable insights into the Chinese public's awareness of and attitudes toward biobanks. To foster public trust and enhance participation, biobanks should prioritize transparent and continual communication to ensure that the participants are well informed about the use and protection of the samples that they have donated. Future research should explore the influence of cultural nuances to develop strategies that address specific concerns and ethical challenges in the context of public participation in biobanks.

Keywords: Altruism; Attitudes; Biobanks; Consent; Public awareness.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Review Committee of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, ID: CAMS&PUMC-IEC-2024-045. The ethical approval document, including the official seal, is provided as a supplementary PDF file in the manuscript submission system. The research was conducted in accordance with relevant ethical guidelines and regulations for studies involving human participants and/or human tissue samples. The questionnaire was fully anonymized, and did not reveal any of the participants’ personal information or any other detail that could be used to identify them. A form to obtain their informed consent was included in the introductory section of the questionnaire, where the participants were required to confirm that they understood the research-related information, and expressed their willingness to participate in the study by clicking an “Agree” button or checking a consent box. Consent for publication: Not Applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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