In our study, we sought to determine which epidemiologic factors contributed to successful organ donation following a diagnosis of brain death.

Brain death is defined as the irreversible loss of all brain stem function. This condition is epidemiologically significant as patients with the condition become eligible for organ donation once diagnosed. Despite being referred for organ donation, however, many patients do not undergo successful transplant due to poor candidacy or refusal of family members to agree to organ donation after the declaration of brain death has been made. The socioeconomic factors underlying progression to successful organ donation after brain death are poorly described.

We performed a retrospective analysis of all identifiable patients in our institution who were diagnosed with brain death from 2008 to 2018. We analyzed epidemiologic factors including age, race/ethnicity, sex, religion, and average household income (calculated by zip code data) to determine which of these factors were associated with successful organ donation following a diagnosis of brain death. T test and Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test were used to compare these factors between the groups, followed by logistic regression.

A total of 139 patients were included in the study. Of these, 87 patients ultimately underwent successful organ donation, while 52 of the patients did not.  There was no significant difference in race/ethnicity, sex, and religion.  A significant difference was noted between the two groups with regard to age (p=0.04) and income (p=0.04). Younger and more wealthy patients were more likely to undergo successful organ donation.

Our study ultimately reveals that older and less wealthy patients are less likely to undergo organ donation compared with their younger and more wealthy counterparts. Further research should be directed towards identifying why these epidemiologic groups donate at lower rates.