Analysis of the Socio-Personal Profile of Latin Americans Living in Spain and the United States: Does It Justify the Differences in Attitude Toward Organ Donation?

INTRODUCTION: There are differences in the attitude toward organ donation between Latin Americans living in Spain and those living in the United States. OBJECTIVE: We sought to analyze the socio-personal factors that can condition the difference in attitude toward donation between Latin Americans living in the United States and those living in Spain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants in the study were Latin Americans living in Spain (group A; n=1237) and the United States (Florida) (group B; n=1450), extracted from the database of the International Collaborative Donor Project (PCID). Inclusion criteria were a sample population stratified by area, country of birth, age, and sex. The instrument used was a validated attitude questionnaire toward living kidney donation (PCID-DTO-Rios.) Participants were randomly selected to be surveyed according to stratification. RESULTS: The attitude in favor of Latin Americans residing in Spain (group A) was 60% (n=745) vs 33% (n=485) of residents in the United States (group B) (P < .001). The socio-personal profile of the Latin Americans in Spain compared with those in the United States indicates that they are mainly women (63.5% vs 43.7%, respectively), younger (31.78 vs 37.31 years, respectively), have more secondary education (21.2% vs 16.3%, respectively) and university studies (11% vs 6%, respectively), are of South American origin vs those who are Mexican and Central American, respectively, and there is a higher percentage of atheists/agnostics (8.1% vs 3.7%). However, the personal profile toward donation is similar in both groups, both for and against organ donation. CONCLUSIONS: The personal social profile of the Latin American resident in Spain is different from that of the resident in the United States. However, the psycho-social profile for and against organ donation is similar in both countries.