Abstract
BackgroundTo assess the knowledge of Singaporean youth regarding corneal donation and gauge their willingness to donate their corneas.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study among 500 students from five tertiary institutions in Singapore. All students answered self-administered questionnaires which included seven questions that tested knowledge and three questions that determined willingness to donate corneas.ResultsAmong 500 Singaporean youth aged 18 to 25, most students (73.2 %) answered 3 or fewer of the 7 questions about corneal donation correctly. With regards to the willingness to donate, 155 (31 %) were willing to donate their corneas, 111 (22.2 %) were not willing to donate their corneas, and 234 (46.8 %) were undecided. Willingness to donate corneas was associated with an older age group (21 to 25 years old), those who are non-Muslims, and have good basic knowledge. Particularly, students with good basic knowledge were 1.71 times more likely to willingly donate their corneas.ConclusionThe knowledge of the Singaporean youth regarding corneal donation and transplantation is poor. Since insufficient information was cited as the most common reason for being undecided in regards to corneal donation, specific and tailored programs to increase knowledge and awareness are needed to convince the youth to support corneal donation.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40662-016-0049-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
To assess the knowledge of Singaporean youth regarding corneal donation and gauge their willingness to donate their corneas
Among the studies on knowledge and perception of the youth on corneal donation, most of the studies we reviewed focused on medical and nursing students, which may give a skewed representation of knowledge among the youth [8,9,10,11]
The purpose of our study was to assess the knowledge of Singaporean youth regarding corneal donation and to gauge their willingness to donate their corneas
Summary
To assess the knowledge of Singaporean youth regarding corneal donation and gauge their willingness to donate their corneas. A successful corneal transplant begins with fresh and high quality corneas, ideally from local donors. An Australian study conducted in 2010 among 371 adults showed that the decision not to donate corneas, despite willingness to donate other organs, is due to concerns surrounding disfigurement [5]. A 2013 study among registered tissue donors in Nanjing, China, reported that well-educated males over 58 years of age with white-collar jobs and party affiliations (e.g., the Communist Party of China) tended to have more favourable views towards corneal donation [6]. In Singapore, a 2005 study showed that 67 % of adults surveyed were willing to donate their corneas, with ethnicity (Chinese) and religion (Christian, Paraz et al Eye and Vision (2016) 3:17
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