The Willingness and Influencing Factors of Organ Donation Among Medical Students in China: A Meta-analysis.

Abstract

Objective: We evaluated the willingness and influencing factors of Chinese medical students to donate an organ.

Methods: A total of 17 articles on the willingness of Chinese medical students to donate organs and related influencing factors were collected from domestic and foreign databases. The retrieval period was from the inception of the database to August 31, 2023. RevMan5.3 software was used to conduct a meta-analysis of the binary data in the included literature, and meta-integration was performed on the influencing factors of organ donation.

Results: In this study, we found that 52% of medical students in China (95% confidence interval, 39%-66%) were willing to donate organs. A subgroup analysis showed that clinical medical students (69%) had greater willingness to donate than nursing students (27%), and medical students in the western region (58%) had a greater willingness to donate than those in the eastern region (51%). Studies with a small sample size (54%) found a greater willingness to donate than studies with a large sample size (49%), and the difference was statistically significant (P < .001). Fifty influencing factors were summarized in the included study, categorizing them into 10 categories, and further integrating them into 3 factors, namely personal factors, family factors, and social factors.

Conclusions: The willingness to organs donation among medical students in China remains at a moderate level, and the demonstration effect has not been reflected fully.