INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN ORGAN DONATION

L. Hornby¹, J. Chandler², J. Burkell³, S.D. Shemie^4
1Division Of Critical Care, Montreal Children's Hospital, Montreal/QC/CANADA, ²Faculty Of Law, Common Law Section, University of Ottawa, Ottawa/CANADA, ³Faculty Of Information And Media Studies, University of Western Ontario, London/ON/CANADA, ⁴Division Of Critical Care, Montreal Children's Hospital, Montreal/CANADA

Body: Introduction: The value of providing personal risk information as applied to organ donation intent decisions,reciprocity systems, public education and social marketing are unclear. As a first stage, this study evaluates the lifetime chances of either becoming a deceased organ donor or requiring an organtransplant in a representative Canadian sample. Methods: An actuarial analysis of lifetime chances of needing or donating an organ was performed for British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Usingorgan donation (Canadian Organ Replacement Register, Canadian Institute for Health Information, 1999-2007) and waiting list data (British Columbia Transplant Society and Trillium Gift of Life Network(Ontario), 1998-2007 and Québec Transplant, 2002-2007) combined with population census data (Statistics Canada), actuarial rate tables were produced (Mercer (Canada)) that provide the annualand lifetime probabilities, by age band and gender, of: 1) becoming a deceased organ donor 2) needing an organ transplant and 3) receiving all organs needed. Results: Regardless of age, thelifetime probability of needing a transplant for males is almost twice that of females. Depending on age, females are 3.5-4 times more likely and males 6-8 times more likely to need an organtransplant than to become a deceased organ donor. The lifetime probabilities of receiving an organ transplant once required, expressed as a percentage of the number of individuals on the waitinglist, ranges from approximately 70% at birth, 20yrs and 40yrs to approximately 60% at 60yrs and are similar for males and females. Conclusions: Despite provincial and gender variations inlifetime donation and transplant rates, Canadians at all ages are much more likely to need an organ transplant than to become an organ donor. The influence of providing this information to informorgan donation decisions is currently under study.

Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.