Factors Associated With African American and White Elders' Participation in a Brain Donation Program

Abstract

This study examined factors associated with brain donation program participation among African American and White elders. By postal mail, participants were recruited from an Alzheimer's research registry (all of whom had been invited to participate in the Center's brain donation program) and asked to complete surveys assessing brain donation knowledge, trust in healthcare systems, and religiousness. African American respondents completed a cultural mistrust inventory. Demographic, brain donation status, and literacy data (as assessed by the Wide Range Achievement Test-3 Reading subtest) were compiled from the respondents' most recent registry visit. The survey response rate was 60% (n=184 White and n=49 Black respondents). Logistic regression, comparing religiousness, trust in healthcare institutions, and educational attainment, identified a single predictor (ie, religiousness) in the prediction of donation status among White respondents (P=0.008), whereas no predictors were observed for donation status among the Black respondents. Using all African American donors and nondonors from the registry (n=68), comparisons revealed Wide Range Achievement Test-3 Reading score differences for African American donors (46.8±5.9) and nondonors (42.8±8.4, P=0.02). Results suggest that increased religiousness is related to White elders' decisions not to donate, whereas lower reading ability might be related to African American participants' decisions not to donate.