Medical students faced with related and unrelated living kidney donation: a stratified and multicentre study in Spain

Introduction The attitude of medical students towards living kidney donation (LKD) is of great interest given that they will become promoters of this technique in the near future. Objective To analyse the attitude of Spanish medical students towards related and unrelated LKD and to determine the factors affecting this attitude. Materials and methods Type of study: A sociological, interdisciplinary, multicentre, and observational study. Study population: Medical students enrolled in Spain (n = 34.000). Sample size: A sample of 9598 students (99 % confidence and precision of +/- 1 %), stratified by geographical area and academic year. Measurement instrument: A validated questionnaire (PCID-DVR RIOS) was administered and completed anonymously. Results There was a completion rate of 95.7 % (n = 9275); 93 % (n = 8630) were in favour of related LKD, and 30 % (n = 2784) were in favour of unrelated LKD. The following factors were associated with this attitude: (1) age (p = 0.008); (2) sex (p < 0.001); (3) year of university degree (p < 0.001); (4) a belief that a transplant might be necessary in the future (p < 0.001); (5) attitude towards deceased organ donation (p < 0.001); (6) a willingness to accept a kidney from a living donor (p < 0.001); (7) attitude towards living liver donation (p < 0.001); (8) a partner's attitude towards donation (p < 0.001); (9) having spoken about the subject with one's family (p < 0.001), or friends (p < 0.001); (10) pro-social behaviour (p < 0.001); (11) the respondent's religious attitude (p < 0.001); and (12) fear of possible mutilation of the body after donation (p < 0.001). Conclusions The attitude of medical students towards LKD is very favourable when it is the related kind of donation, and it is associated with factors of general knowledge about organ donation and transplantation and social interaction and religion.