Drug Overdose and Cardiovascular Deaths Among Deceased Organ Donors: Implications for Donor Utilization and Data Reporting

BACKGROUND: The present study evaluated expanded cause of death (COD) definitions and its implications on donor utilization for solid organ transplantation. MATERIAL/METHODS: The OPTN Standard Transplant and Research file was queried for potential donors between 2005 and 2019. Donor- and organ-specific utilization were evaluated. Expanded donor COD were identified: trauma, cardiovascular (CV), cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or stroke, drug intoxication (DI), anoxia not otherwise specified (NOS), and other. Descriptive analyses and multivariable logistic regression analyses for donor utilization were performed. RESULTS: Among 132 783 potential donors identified, the most common COD was CVA/Stroke (n=44 707, 33.7%), followed by trauma (n=43 356, 32.7%), CV (n=20 053, 15.1%), anoxia-NOS (n=12 261, 9.2%), DI (n=10 205, 7.7%), and other causes (n=2201, 1.7%). Significant differences between CV, DI, and anoxia-NOS groups existed for donor age, sex, ethnicity, body mass index, and comorbidities. Donors from trauma had the highest unadjusted utilization rate (97.2%) while CV donors had the lowest (90.1%). Multivariable analysis of brain-dead donors (DBD) showed that compared to trauma, donors from DI had higher likelihood of utilization (odds ratio 1.217, 95% 1.025–1.446) while CV donors were lower (OR 0.717, 95% CI 0.642–0.800, P<0.001). Among donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors, there was decreased utilization compared to trauma for both CV (OR 0.607, 95% CI 0.523–0.705) and DI (OR 0.754, 95% CI 0.603–0.914, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Current COD definitions should be expanded to capture significant differences in the donor population. DI donors are the fastest growing cohort and the most likely utilized DBD donors, while trauma donors remain the most likely utilized DCD donors.