Introduction:  Turkey’s rapidly aging demographic presents an escalating burden of dementia. While local research infrastructure exists, advancements are impeded by the paucity of postmortem neuropathological verification, the gold standard for definitive diagnosis [1]. Currently, the absence of a structured brain donation system and widespread public unfamiliarity with the donation process severely restrict the capacity to investigate the underlying pathology of neurodegenerative diseases in this population [2,3,4]. The problem is that there is a lack of research examining public attitudes and knowledge about brain donation.

Methods: Theory- and literature-based questionnaire development ↓ Item generation based on a review of brain donation, organ donation, and end-of life decision-making instruments ↓ Expert panel review (Content validity) ↓ Pilot testing & psychometric validation ↓ Nationwide data collection (2023-2025) ↓ In-person and online surveys across geographically diverse regions of Turkey.

Results:  A total of 1,642 respondents participated in the study (1,037 females and 605 males). Participants ranged in age from 18 to 86 years (mean = 42.86 ± 15.30) and represented diverse educational backgrounds. Participants' informational preferences and attitudes toward brain donation are presented in the figures.

Conclusions: Key point is limited public knowledge, rather than cultural or religious beliefs, is the main barrier to brain donation in Turkey. Targeted education is essential to increase brain donation and support dementia research.

References: 

[1] Shim, Y. S., Roe, C. M., Buckles, V. D., & Morris, J. C. (2013). Clinicopathologic study of Alzheimer’s disease: Alzheimer mimics. Journal of Alzheimer S Disease, 35(4), 799–811.

[2] Striley, C. W., Milani, S. A., Kwiatkowski, E., DeKosky, S. T., & Cottler, L. B. (2018). Community perceptions related to brain donation: Evidence for intervention. Alzheimer S & Dementia, 15(2), 267–272.

[3] Sweeney, A., Rush, A., Stevens, J., & Sutherland, G. T. (2024). A survey of community perceptions on brain donation for research. Biopreservation and Biobanking, 23(1), 31–38.

[4] Caban‐Holt, A. M., Cuccaro, M. L., Gregory, A., Eley, B., Duke, T., Chavez, J., Jones, D., Racy, K., Lloyd, S., Starks, T. D., Adams, L. D., Haines, J. L., Reitz, C., Vance, J. M., Pericak‐Vance, M., & Byrd, G. S. (2025). Brief brain tissue donation community presentations increase knowledge, decrease misinformation and improve brain donation acceptability. Alzheimer S & Dementia, 21(S6), e106940.