Fax +41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail karger@karger.ch www.karger.com Original Paper Nephron Clin Pract 2008;110:c133–c138 DOI: 10.1159/000163846 Attitude of the Population of German Origin in the South East of Spain toward Living Kidney Donation In Search of Favorable Sub-Groups for Promoting Living Kidney Donation in Spain Antonio Ríos a, b Laura Martínez-Alarcón a, b José Sánchez c Nicholas Jarvis a Dolores Guzmán c Pascual Parrilla b Pablo Ramírez a, b a Coordinación Regional de Trasplantes de la Comunidad Autónoma de Murcia, Consejería de Sanidad, b Departamento de Cirugía, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, El Palmar, Servicio Murciano de Salud, and c Asociación de Ayuda al Enfermo Renal (ADAER), Murcia, España 0.001). Conclusions: Attitude toward related living kidney donation of German residents in the South East of Spain is favorable and is closely related to attitude toward cadaveric donation, fear of the after-effects of this type of donation and religious attitude. Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel Introduction Optimal organ donation achieves the best result with the least detrimental effect. In this respect, cadaveric do- nation is best because it does not imply any kind of mu- tilation for a living being and it is able to improve the health and provide quality of life for the recipient [1]. However, even in Spain that has one of the highest rates of cadaveric donation, this type of donation is not used enough [2–3]. In order to reduce this shortage of organs, living donation is being encouraged given that it is an ethically acceptable therapeutic option given the low lev- el of risk for the donor and its good clinical results [4–5]. However, in spite of the fact that most Spanish transplant centers have an ongoing living donation program and most health care professionals are currently in favor, this type of donation is minimal [2, 6–8] . Recently, it has been Key Words Germans  Living donation  Organ donation  Psychosocial factors Abstract Background: There is an increasing population of German origin living in the South East of Spain. Objective: To analyze the attitude toward living kidney donation in this population subgroup. Methods: A sample of German residents in the South East of Spain was taken randomly (n = 250) (November 2005–April 2006). Attitude was evaluated using a validated questionnaire. The survey was self-administered and com- pleted anonymously. The control group comprised native Spanish citizens (n = 500). Results: The questionnaire com- pletion rate was 87% (n = 218). Most respondents (92%, n = 201) are in favor of living-related donation. The following variables are related to attitude to donation: (1) marital sta- tus of the respondent (p = 0.002); (2) level of education (p ! 0.001); (3) attitude toward cadaveric donation (p = 0.005); (4) having had previous experience with the donation and transplantation process (p ! 0.001); (5) the respondent’s reli- gion (p = 0.002); (6) the risk that they believe is involved in living kidney donation (p = 0.001), and (7) concern about ‘mutilation’ that could be caused by living donation (p ! Received: February 19, 2008 Accepted: June 13, 2008 Published online: October 16, 2008 Dr. Antonio Ríos Zambudio Avenida de la Libertad n o 208 Casillas ES–30007 Murcia (España) Tel. +34 968 27 07 57, Fax +34 968 36 94 38, E-Mail arzrios@teleline.es © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel 1660–2110/08/1102–0133$24.50/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/nec