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Attitudes toward postmortem cornea donation in Germany: a multicenter survey

  • Cornea
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Abstract

Purpose

To analyse the willingness for postmortem cornea donation in Germany.

Methods

Employees in two cities (UKM, UKS), and university hospitals (STM, STE), members of the German Ophthalmological Society (DOG), and employees of an automobile company (BO) participated in a questionnaire about postmortem cornea donation attitudes. The questionnaire consisted of demographic items, motives concerning postmortem cornea donation, general attitudes toward donation, and questions concerning the perceived needs for information about donation. The statistical analyses included logistic regression with the target parameter of 'willingness to donate cornea postmortem'.

Results

Of the participants, 67.7 % (UKM, UKS), 70.9 % (STM, STE), 70.8 % (BO), and 79.4 % (DOG) declared their intention to donate their corneas postmortem. Younger age (p < 0.001), poorer general health (p < 0.05), faith in an eternal life (p < 0.05), disagreement with brain death diagnostics (p < 0.001), fear of receiving worse medical treatment (p < 0.001), and fear of the commercialization of organs (p < 0.001) were found to be risk factors for a negative attitude toward postmortem cornea. The majority of participants (57.4 %) indicated that additional information about donation would be appreciated, and the internet (69.9 %) was considered the most appropriate means for conveying this information.

Conclusions

Emotional items were revealed to be the most relevant factors influencing the willingness to donate cornea postmortem, which may be counteracted by means of public education. The relatively low willingness among the medical staff contrasts with previous observations in a professional ophthalmologic society.

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Disclosure of proprietary or commercial interest

The authors have no proprietary or commercial interests in any concept or product discussed in this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center, Münster, Germany

    C. E. Uhlig & J. Promesberger

  2. Institute of Biostatistics and Clinical Research, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    R. Koch

  3. Department of Psycholinguistics and Neurosciences, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    G. Hirschfeld

  4. Department of Transplantation, University Medical Center, Münster, Germany

    H. Schmidt

  5. Department of Ophthalmology, Saarland University Medical Center, Saarland, Germany

    B. Seitz

  6. Department of Ophthalmology, Eye Center, University Hospital, Freiburg, Germany

    T. Reinhard & D. Böhringer

  7. Klinik für Augenheilkunde, Universitätsklinikum Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Gebäude D15, Anfahrtsadresse: Domagkstraße 15, 48149, Münster, Germany

    C. E. Uhlig

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  1. C. E. Uhlig
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  2. R. Koch
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  3. J. Promesberger
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  4. G. Hirschfeld
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  5. H. Schmidt
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  6. B. Seitz
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  7. T. Reinhard
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  8. D. Böhringer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. E. Uhlig.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material. This includes a Figure demonstrating questionnaire variant VI without "informative sentence".

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Uhlig, C.E., Koch, R., Promesberger, J. et al. Attitudes toward postmortem cornea donation in Germany: a multicenter survey. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 252, 1955–1962 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-014-2796-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-014-2796-y

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