Understanding of and attitudes to xenotransplantation: a survey among Italian university students

Abstract

chi-squared, Pearson's test; P-values <0.05 were considered significant. A total of 585 of 602 (97.2%) students completed the questionnaire (132 males, 453 females, mean age 20.4, range 19 to 43 yr). They were on courses in Medicine (33.85%), Agriculture (5.98%), Veterinary Medicine (11.45%), Psychology (18.46%) and Educational Sciences (30.26%). As for their previous schooling, they came from classical or scientific high school (58.3%), technical college (14.7%), language college (6.3%), teacher training college (11.9%) or others (8.8%). Concerning their religious beliefs, 83% were Catholics, and 56.2% defined themselves as practising Catholics. Eighty-eight percentage of the students knew of the possibility of animal organs being transplanted into humans and 77.9% of them approved of this idea. When grouped according to gender and education, a higher proportion of students approving of xenotransplantation were male (P = 0.017) and had attended classical or scientific high school (P = 0.011). Disapproval for moral, ethical or religious reasons was higher among practising than among non-practising Catholics; the latter rejected xenotransplantation more for immunological and infectious reasons (P = 0.014). As for the type of university course, a higher proportion of students approving of xenotransplantation attended science courses (Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and Medicine vs. Educational Sciences and Psychology) (P = 0.013). University students generally approved of xenotransplantation. Male gender and a high-school education were associated with a greater acceptance of xenotransplantation. Practising vs. non-practising Catholics reported significantly different reasons for any disapproval of xenotransplantation. The choice of a science rather than an arts faculty at university was more strongly associated with a positive opinion on xenotransplantation.

The ethics of xenotransplantation: a survey of student attitudes

“…The majority of students had heard of the concept of xenotransplantation, and believed the technique to be beneficial to society, based on the medical need for organs. This level of knowledge and acceptance is consistent when compared with other studies of student opinion [10,11]. However, a significantly reduced majority, lower than 50% of the respondents, believed xenotransplantation to be ethically acceptable.…”

“…Gender only appeared to influence the choice of animal welfare implications as the most important argument against xenotransplantation, with women being more likely to choose this option than men. Previous studies, however, have found gender to be a larger determinant, revealing that males were more likely to be aware and approve of xenotransplantation [10,11,16]. Interestingly, animal welfare and the genetic modification of animals have proved to be more of a concern for students than may have been expected.…”

“…Surveys of students have revealed a comparatively high level of acceptance, with three out of four Swedish students in favor [10] and 77.9% of Italian students [11]. Again, gender proved to be an influencing factor, with males more in favour, but a stronger association was made between approval of xenotransplantation and students on science‐related courses when compared with those on education or arts courses [11].…”

Attitudes and beliefs of South African medical students toward organ transplantation

“…We found a significant association between Muslim participants and the refusal of an animal organ transplant. Although many studies have shown that Muslims are in favor of organ transplantation, the acceptance of animal organs is still a very contentious issue, particularly when porcine grafts are evoked (20). However, a recent British study suggested that some Muslim respondents would consider accepting a non‐porcine animal organ (21).…”

Understanding of and attitude to xenotransplantation among Italian university students: impact of a 3‐yr university course

“…We reported previously that Italian university students in their first year were well informed and generally would accept the idea of transplanting animal organs into humans, although they were aware of the potential risks related to this experimental procedure [15]. To assess the impact of studying at different university faculties on the students’ understanding of and attitude to xenotransplantation, we submitted the same questionnaire to students who had completed their first 3 yr of university education.…”