ArticleBMC medical ethics2023
Attitude and concerns of healthy individuals regarding post-mortem brain donation. A qualitative study on a nation-wide sample in Italy.
Article in BMC medical ethics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- UC Irvine's Brain Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) Brain Procurement Program for the Center for Multiomic Human Brain Cell Atlas Project.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Family refusal rates for organ donation after brain death and after circulatory death: a single-center 6-year experience.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2025Article
- Brain banks in Latin America: Infrastructure for diagnosis, research, and scientific equity in Mexico and the Caribbean.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Brain donation rules in Italy and worldwide: overview of a cutting-edge topic for human brain research.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCollecting post-mortem brain tissue is essential, especially from healthy "control" individuals, to advance knowledge on increasingly common neurological and mental disorders. Yet, healthy individuals, on which this study is focused, are still understudied. The aim of the study was to explore, among healthy potential brain donors and/or donors' relatives, attitude, concerns and opinion about post-mortem brain donation (PMBD).
methodsA convenience sampling of the general population (twins and their non-twin contacts) was adopted. From June 2018 to February 2019, 12 focus groups were conducted in four Italian cities: Milan, Turin, Rome and Naples, stratified according to twin and non-twin status. A qualitative content analysis was performed with both deductive and inductive approaches. Emotional interactions analysis corroborated results.
resultsOne hundred and three individuals (49-91 yrs of age) participated. Female were 60%. Participants had scarse knowledge regarding PMBD. Factors affecting attitude towards donation were: concerns, emotions, and misconceptions about donation and research. Religion, spirituality and secular attitude were implied, as well as trust towards research and medical institutions and a high degree of uncertainty about brain death ascertainment. Family had a very multifaceted central role in decision making. A previous experience with neurodegenerative diseases seems among factors able to favour brain donation.
conclusionsThe study sheds light on healthy individuals' attitudes about PMBD. Brain had a special significance for participants, and the ascertainment of brain death was a source of debate and doubt. Our findings emphasise the importance of targeted communication and thorough information to promote this kind of donation, within an ethical framework of conduct. Trust in research and health professionals emerged as an essential factor for a collaborative attitude towards donation and informed decision making in PMBD.
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