Neuroanesthesia & neurocritical care
Missed Organ Donation Opportunities in Patients With Devastating Brain Injury: A Prospective Population-Based Cohort Study
Authors' conclusion
Missed organ donation opportunities occur with regularity, especially in EDs and regional hospitals, and among older patients and potential DCC donors.
Study context
- Population
- Consecutive patients who died with devastating brain injury and were mechanically ventilated in the last 12 hours of life; all adult ICU, PICU and emergency departments (EDs) in a Canadian province, 42 months1,072 eligible potential donors
- Participants
- 3,481 patients
- Exposure
- Confirmed DNC vs Probable DNC vs death by circulatory criteria (DCC)
- Confirmed DNCn = 481
- Probable DNCn = 154
- DCCn = 437
- Outcome
- Missed organ donation opportunities among eligible potential donors
Methodological detailspopulation-based, multivariable logistic regression
- Population-based
- Multivariable logistic regression
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Missed organ donation opportunities
172
16%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | OR (CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Predictors of missed opportunities (multivariable analysis)Older age (per decade) | 1.1 (1.0–1.3) | |
| Predictors of missed opportunities (multivariable analysis)Death in ED vs ICU | 5.4 (3.0–10.0) | |
| Predictors of missed opportunities (multivariable analysis)Regional hospital vs Urban hospital | 2.8 (1.7–4.6) | |
| 0.10.31310Odds ratio (log scale) |
Predictors of missed opportunities (multivariable analysis)
| OR (CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Donation specialist as most responsible physician | 0.3 (0.2–0.5) | |
| 0.20.5125Odds ratio (log scale) |
Missed cases categorised as probable DNC, by setting
P = 0.0005
| Outcome | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Predictors of missed opportunities (multivariable analysis)DCC vs DNC | 6.7 (CI 4.4–10.1) |
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Missed Organ Donation Opportunities in Patients With Devastating Brain Injury: A Prospective Population-Based Cohort Study. Crit Care Med. Published 21 November 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →