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Willingness of human immunodeficiency virus‐positive patients to donate their organs for transplantation in T aiwan: a cross‐sectional questionnaire survey
Author(s) -
Lee YiChieh,
Hung ChienChing,
Cheng Aristine,
Liu WenChun,
Wu PeiYing,
Yang ShangPing,
Zhang JunYu,
Luo YuZhen,
Chang HsiYen,
Sun HsinYun,
Chang ShanChwen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
transplant infectious disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1399-3062
pISSN - 1398-2273
DOI - 10.1111/tid.12614
Subject(s) - medicine , organ donation , cross sectional study , odds ratio , economic shortage , confidence interval , willingness to accept , organ transplantation , family medicine , donation , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , transplantation , willingness to pay , pathology , linguistics , philosophy , government (linguistics) , economics , microeconomics , economic growth
Abstract Background With the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (c ART ) that has significantly improved survival, human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV )‐positive patients may be potential organ donors to HIV ‐positive recipients in a few countries. Organ shortage remains a challenge for organ transplantation in Taiwan, where organ donation by HIV ‐positive patients remains prohibited by law. Methods We assessed the willingness of organ donation (should they be pronounced brain dead, and the ban on HIV ‐positive organ donation be lifted) among HIV ‐positive patients who received regular HIV care at a university hospital in a cross‐sectional survey between May and August 2015 with the use of an anonymous, self‐administered questionnaire interview. Results Of the 1010 participants, 93.7% were receiving cART with the latest mean CD4 count and plasma HIV RNA load of 587 cells/mm 3 and 2.73 log 10 copies/mL, respectively. Overall, 71.9% were willing to donate organs. In multivariate analysis, factors associated with willingness to donate organs included college or graduate school diploma (odds ratio [OR] 1.571, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.166‐2.191), registered willingness to donate in the National Health Insurance system (OR 9.430, 95% CI 1.269‐70.051), and knowledge of the information on HIV‐positive deceased donors ( HIVDD ) (OR 1.673, 95% CI 1.073‐2.608). Conclusions We concluded that a significant proportion (71.9%) of HIV ‐positive Taiwanese patients were willing to donate their organs. The willingness was associated with a higher education level, prior registered willingness to donate organs, and awareness of HIVDD .