RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: In Brazil, where organ donation occurs after brain death (BD) and needs family consent, notification of potential donors increased in the last decade, although family refusal is still around 40%. Among modifiable factors, there is a lack of knowledge by the population regarding BD and the process of organ donation. Our goal was to evaluate the knowledge of the population about these topics in a medium-sized Brazilian city with a high family refusal rate. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, we randomly recruited 868 individuals in public places in January through March 2017. We collected data about demographics and concepts related to organ donation by interview. Groups were compared by χ2 test. RESULTS: Most of the subjects were women (57.3%), 54.6% of whom were white, and the mean age was 37.1 ±15.8 years; 58.8% had at least 11 years of schooling, and 55.8% had a monthly familiar income of < 3 reference wages. Individuals who declared to be donors (67.5%) were younger (36.0 ± 14.9 vs 39.6 ± 17.4 years, P = .007) and had higher schooling (47.3 vs 28.7% with > 11 years of schooling, P < .001). Among donors, 41% did not inform their families, 38% believed that donation could occur regardless of the kind of death, and 26.8% believed in the reversibility of BD. At least 90% of individuals, however, independent from donation status, would authorize organ donation of a relative if they previously knew the donation status of that relative. CONCLUSION: We observed, despite a high prevalence of potential donors, conflictive concepts regarding BD. This information suggests directions for the design of educative measures.