Potential Living Kidney Donorsʼ Concerns About Donation.

Abstract

Background: As many as 80% of persons who contact the transplant center to be a live kidney donor fail to donate. Exploring concerns about donation remains critical to developing methods to overcome barriers to live kidney donation. Our aim was to identify concerns about donation of individuals who contact the transplant center and are medically suitable but fail to donate. Methods: A survey of concerns about the donation process was distributed to individuals who contacted the center to be a live kidney donor between Jan 2011 and Dec 2012. Participants could elect not to respond to any questions and could report more than one concern. Descriptive statistics identified potential donor characteristics and concerns. Results: The survey was sent to 1431 potential donors with a response rate of 25%. Respondents with incomplete data, those who actually donated, or medically ineligible were excluded from the analysis of concerns. Final cohort included 108 participants (41±11 yrs, 71% female, 90% white, 15% high school degree or less, 14% with <$20K annual household income). 45% were family, 31% friend, and 24% acquaintance or an altruistic donor. Potential donor concerns are displayed in Table 1.Table: No Caption available.Discussion: Financial and future health were the most prevalent concerns identified by potential donors. Understanding characteristics and concerns of potential donors is an important first step in the development of educational materials and interventions to remove barriers to live kidney donation.