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

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge of and attitudes toward postmortem cornea donation in living young and elderly potential donors in a German city. Method: 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. Results: 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 (p < 0.001), and fewer of them possessed a donor card (p < 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. Conclusions: 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.