Egyptians Social Acceptance and Consenting Options for Posthumous Organ Donation. A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Organ donation has become one of the most effective ways in developing and developed countries to save lives and improve the quality of life for patients with end-stage organ failure. No previous studies investigated either the Egyptians’ perception or preferences about different consenting options for organ donation. This study aims to assess Egyptian personal preferences and public perception of norm on several consenting options for posthumous organ donation, and measure the awareness and acceptance of the public to Egyptian law articles regulating organ donation.

Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted along two years among 2743 participants. Participants were chosen from governmental and non-governmental facilities as well as from the general public. Each participant was required to complete the study questionnaire which included demographic characteristics, personal preferences and public norms of eleven consenting options arranged from 1 (most preferred) to 11 (least preferred), and awareness and acceptance of the seven articles of Egyptian laws concerning organ donation.

Results: About 78% of the respondents expressed willingness to donate their organs after death while 22% were not willing to donate. Out of donation preferences, informed consent by donor only was a preferable choice, where about one third of respondents assigned to this option the highest ranking scores (31% as a personal preference and 31.6 % for the public norm). There was no difference between males and females or between personal preferences and perception of norms in consenting systems ranking. The awareness for the targeted Egyptian laws regarding organ donation after death was relatively low ranging from 56% to 23%.

Conclusion: Informed consent by donor only was the preferable choice as personal preference and as norm. The choice of consenting options did not vary with gender, education or employment. Increasing the awareness of Egyptians on the articles of the law of organ donation is highly needed.