Socioeconomic position and organ donation after death in England
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Socioeconomic position and organ donation after death in England: does deprivation have an impact on donors and recipients?
IRAS ID
152789
Contact name
Phillippa Bailey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Research summary
Individuals who die in hospital deemed suitable for organ donation are described as ‘potential organ donors’ and those who donate their organs constitute ‘actual organ donors’. Currently, individuals from the most deprived quintiles in society make-up a greater percentage of those who die in-hospital (Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator data) but the socioeconomic position (SEP) of ‘potential organ donors’ as compared to ‘actual organ donors’ is not known.
The overall study will analyse combined national Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) mortality data, and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHS BT) audit data to examine deceased organ donation and SEP in England between 2008 and 2012.
This overall study has two separate analyses:
Study 1. Is SEP associated with likelihood of organ donation after death?
Study 1 will examine whether SEP is associated with likelihood of organ donation after death. It will compare rates of actual organ donation by SEP taking into account the potential organ donor population.
Study 2. Is there a mismatch between the SEP of those donating kidneys after death and those receiving kidneys for transplantation?
Study 2 will compare the SEP of deceased kidney donors with that of deceased-donor kidney transplant recipients.
NHS BT carries out an annual ‘Potential Donor Audit’ which examines the association of likelihood of organ donation after death with a number of other variables (e.g. ethnicity) but SEP is not examined. Identifying the SEP of those donating organs in England would be a first step in identifying if SEP affects likelihood of deceased organ donation. If a certain SEP is associated with a lower likelihood of organ donation after death this would be worthy of further investigation to understand the reasons for this, and may provide a target for intervention aimed ultimately at increasing rates of organ donation after death.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NW/1111
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jul 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion