Organ Transplants: A study of the donor profile and its social implications in a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India.

Introduction: Since time immemorial, the status of women in society has been very fluid. In certain eras they enjoyed being in power and in some they were considered below the ranks of their male counterparts. The position of women in India is an uncertain one, where in the urban, cosmopolitan cities of the country she is slowly yet steadily gaining a foothold in the society and is enjoying the independence which earlier used to be the privilege accorded only to the males. In the rural areas, she still is on the beck and call of the male members of the family or society at large. Keeping this premise in mind, the study was undertaken to study the donor profile in Organ Transplants and to ascertain whether the social status of women had any influence in determining the donor.  

 

AIM: To assess the donor profile of kidney transplants and analyse the societal implications associated with donor participation at a tertiary care hospital in North India.

 

Methodology: This is a retrospective record based quantitative and qualitative study carried out at an autonomous tertiary teaching hospital in North India. All the live Kidney Donor records for a duration of ten years (2013 -2022) were retrieved and studied. They were studied for the age, sex, relation of the donor with the recipient and their State of Residence. In addition, short semi structured telephonic interviews were carried out with 92 out of 925 female donors  so as to determine the reasons why female donors are in abundance in our country. Statistical analysis was done using Strata 14.0, data expressed as frequency and percentage. Chi square and independent T test was used to calculate significant difference. P <0.05 is considered as statistically significant. 

 

Observations & Results: A total of 1171 kidney transplants were conducted at the hospital across ten years. Amongst all the transplant donors 78.99% were female donors and 21.01% donors were males. The average age of a female donor was found to be 43.96 years whereas that of the male donor is 49.40 years. Amongst these, the maximum number of female donors (26.7%) were from the state of Delhi followed by Uttar Pradesh (22.70%) and the state of Bihar (18.59%). number of cases were from the capital and its adjoining states. It was further observed that it’s the mothers (50.05%) followed by wives (30.57%) of the recipients who donated their kidneys in most instances. Amongst the male donors, the fathers (53.66%) of the recipients were the forerunners.

 

To identify the factors contributing to higher number of female donors we conducted in-depth semi structured telephonic interview of 10% of the total female donors i.e. 92 female donors. The average age of the female interviewees was 38 years and about 50% of the interviewees were undergraduates. 75% of the interviewees were aware about organ donation inclusive of the risks associated with it. According to them, the most common reason of female donors is their inferior position in the society (51.8%) followed by their non-earning status or their dependent status (33.2%) and altruism (15%).

 

Conclusion: High number of female donors in a country like ours could well be attributed to the position of the women in Society. It can further be correlated from the fact (2011 Census of India) that India has lower sex ratio as well as female literacy rate.