Correlation of Organ Donors' Age With Duration Between Admission and First Brain Death Examination: A Five-Year Study in South Korea

Abstract

Background: Deceased organ donation can be performed only with the consent of the donor or their family members. The aim of this study was to determine whether donor age is related to families' decision-making regarding consent for organ donation.

Methods: We obtained the data of 2451 organ donors with brain death (men 1645, women 806; mean age, 46.5 ± 16.2 years) registered with the Korean Network for Organ Sharing for the period between December 2012 and December 2017. The duration between the admission of the patient and the first brain death assessment was determined.

Results: The mean duration from admission to the first brain death examination was significantly longer in the 0 to 30 age group (16.23 ± 6.01 days) compared with the 31 to 83 age group (6.7 ± 1.07 days) (P < .001). There was a strong negative correlation (r = 0.795, P = .010) between age and the mean duration from admission to the first brain death examination.

Conclusion: Because the family members of younger potential organ donors needed more time to provide consent, the first brain death examination and, therefore, the donation process was delayed in cases of young donors.