Attitudes and Knowledge Regarding Postmortem Cornea Donation among Young and Elderly People in Germany: Sufficient for Decision Making?

Abstract

<b><i>Objectives:</i></b> To evaluate the knowledge of and attitudes toward postmortem cornea donation in living young and elderly potential donors in a German city. <b><i>Method:</i></b> High-school students and seniors participated in a nonrandomized prospective survey focusing on willingness to donate corneas postmortem and factors that might influence underlying specific attitudes. Statistical analysis was descriptive and included logistic regression. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The survey showed that 73.3% of the high-school students and 41.6% of the seniors, 53.2% of whom had already signed an advanced medical directive, felt insufficiently informed about donation. High-school students were significantly less willing to donate their corneas postmortem (<i>p</i> < 0.001), and fewer of them possessed a donor card (<i>p</i> < 0.001). High-school students specified the internet as their favored source of information about donation in 82.7% of cases, while the family physician was the first preference for 47.8% of the seniors. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The willingness to donate and the proportion of donor card ownership were significantly lower in the high-school students than among the seniors, corresponding to their respective knowledge in matters of donation. Young people should be systematically informed about cornea donation at school, as soon as they reach the legal minimum age for donation, and primary-care physicians should provide relevant information to every new patient to aid their decision making concerning postmortem cornea donation.

A study on the perception, knowledge, attitude, and practices of eye donation among fresh medical graduates in India

“…However, family physician was the preferred source of information for seniors (47.8%) although youngsters preferred internet. [ 21 ] Hence, counseling and patient education by non-ophthalmologists and primary care physicians could be a game changer in improving the current eye donation statistics.…”

Efficacy of Emergency Penetrating Keratoplasty with Cryopreserved Human Donor Corneas

“…This shortage is often attributed to factors related to the population's attitudes toward donation. Moreover, it is in these areas where the need for donor corneal tissue in cases of corneal perforations due to infectious conditions is more prevalent [ 3 , 9 – 16 ]. In emergency situations with present or impending corneal perforation, an unavailability of fresh corneal tissue, and a risk of the eye being lost, patients may be treated with tectonic corneas that are unsuitable for penetrating keratoplasties intended for visual purposes, often with low endothelial cell counts [ 16 ].…”