ReviewRisk management and healthcare policy2021
Assessing Global Organ Donation Policies: Opt-In vs Opt-Out.
Review in Risk management and healthcare policy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Exploring perspectives of interest-holders on the use of health and genomic data from deceased participants in research: An updated systematic review.Journal of genetic counseling · 2026Pooled it
- Part 4: Systems of Care: 2025 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care.Circulation · 2025Guideline
- Barriers to conversations about deceased organ donation among adults living in the UK: a systematic review with narrative synthesis.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- 20-year analysis of protocol-driven quality improvement in cardiac homograft banking.Cell and tissue banking · 2026Article
- Education and Ethical Guidance for Organ Donation at the End-of-Life: An Ethical Guidance Statement from the Neurocritical Care Society.Neurocritical care · 2026Review
- Ten tips to preserve and reuse water in nephrology.Clinical kidney journal · 2026Review
- Informing national policy: Healthcare workers' readiness for a deceased donor kidney transplant program in Brunei Darussalam.World journal of transplantation · 2026Article
- Xenotransplantation and the organ shortage: evaluating policy priorities.Current opinion in organ transplantation · 2026Review
- Determinants of Family Members' Willingness to Donate Organs in Intensive Care Units: A Cross-Sectional Study.Patient preference and adherence · 2026Article
- Management of adult organ donors after brain death in ICU: insights from an Italian survey.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2025Article
- Use of Terlipressin in Liver Transplant Candidates.Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2025Article
- Exploring the Dynamics: A Comprehensive Scoping Review of Factors Influencing Organ Donation Decisions: A Scoping Review.Iranian journal of public health · 2025Review
- Hospital-Related Determinants of Refusal of Organ Donation in France: A Multilevel Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Global transplantation: Lessons from organ transplantation organizations worldwide.World journal of transplantation · 2025Review
- Nurse Specialist in the Organ and Tissue Donation Process with Coordination Role: A Scoping Review.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Review
- Analysis of Unused Organ Donors in the Netherlands: Older Donor Age Associated With Higher Risk of Non-Utilization.Transplant international : official journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation · 2025Article
- Rethinking Organ Donation in the Philippines: An Examination of the Opt-Out Policy as an Alternative to the Current Opt-In System.Acta medica Philippina · 2025Article
- Trends in organ- and tissue-specific donation refusals in São Paulo, Brazil, a quantitative cross-sectional study.Sao Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina · 2025Article
- Organ donation in Germany: opt-in vs. opt-out-opinions and voting patterns in the 19th German Bundestag.Frontiers in transplantation · 2025Article
- Promoting and Supporting Positive Conversations and Knowledge Mobilisation About Organ Donation in NHS Staff: a Hashtag "#" Series of Projects.Transplant international : official journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This paper argues that there is little difference between opt-in and opt-out organ donation systems for increasing donor numbers when used in isolation. Independently diverting to an opt-out system confers no obvious advantage and can harm efforts to bolster donations. Rather, it is essential to address barriers to organ donation on several levels along with a switch in system. Moreover, for many countries, it may be more beneficial to adequately capacitate the donation system already in place, rather than entertain a significant change with its attendant resource requirements. For decades, the international transplant community has been involved in vigorous debate as to the merits of moving from default opt-in systems to opt-out policies to grow organ donor numbers and better meet the ever-increasing demand for lifesaving transplants. Opt-out is certainly en vogue, with Wales, England and Nova Scotia recently switching over, Scotland due to become opt-out in March 2021 and Northern Ireland and Canada seriously considering a similar move. Thanks to several countries making the switch from opt-in to opt-out over the last 20-30 years, there are sets of robust longitudinal data that aid in analysing the efficacy of donation systems. However, these data are often contradictory and largely inconclusive, suggesting other factors may be in play. This paper reviews some emerging trends in opt-in versus opt-out organ donation policies and considers recent data that elucidates some of the main contentions across each. Ethical frameworks underpinning donation systems, such as informed consent, trust and transparency, are discussed in detail. Substantial time is also devoted to opt-in vs opt-out systems in developing countries, which tend to be excluded from many analyses, and where the challenges faced are magnified by socio-economic constraints. This constitutes a major gap in recently published literature, as developing countries often lag far behind their developed counterparts in donor and transplant numbers.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.