Introduction: Organ transplant is often the only viable treatment for patients with end-stage organ failure. Until now, Icelandic legislation has required informed consent for organ donors, but a new parliamentary bill has been put forth to change the laws to presumed consent. The goal of this study was to investigate the attitude of the Icelandic population towards legislative changes to presumed consent.

Materials and methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study using a questionnaire. The study population included all Icelanders, 18 years and older. The sample involved 1400 persons randomly selected from a Capacent Gallup mailing-list. The response rate was 63% or 880 answers.

Results: The majority of Icelanders are in favour of the proposed legislative change (more than 80%). Women were more likely to support presumed consent than men, 85% versus 76% respectively. Younger participants were more likely to be positive towards the new law, but no significant difference was found in attitude by family income, demographics or education. Persons who knew someone close to them that had received a transplanted organ were 50% more likely to be in complete agreement with the proposed legislation. Only 5% of participants were currently registered organ donors – 29 women and 15 men. 

Conclusion: Icelanders are very positive towards changing the law to include presumed consent in organ donation. Women and younger people tended to be more in favour and similarly those who know someone that has received donated organs. A majority of responders are willing to donate their organs, but very few are registered as donors.

Figure 1. Participants' attitude to legislation of presumed consent in organ donation.

Table I. Participants attitude to presumed consent by age-groups, %.

	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65 and older
Absolutely in favour	56.3	54.0	44.5	42.6	37.8	30.8
Very favourable	10.7	17.3	18.5	21.9	24.4	23.3
Rather favourable	11.6	6.0	16.4	16.8	23.7	25.8
Neither or	9.8	6.0	6.8	7.1	7.4	8.8
Rather favourable	10.7	6.0	6.8	6.5	3.7	4.4
Very favourable	0.9	4.7	3.4	1.3	2.2	3.1
Absolutely not in favour	0.0	6.0	3.4	3.9	0.7	3.8

Figure 2. Participants' attitude to donating their own organs after death 

Table II. Participants' attitude towards donating their own organs after death, by age-groups, %.

	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65 and older
Absolutely in favour	51.3	43.7	46.6	36.5	36.1	20.7
Very favourable	24.3	27.8	27.1	33.1	27.8	24.8
Rather favourable	12.2	15.9	18.0	18.2	18.0	22.1
Neither or	8.7	9.5	6.0	3.4	12.8	15.2
Rather favourable	3.5	0.8	0.0	4.1	0.8	7.6
Very favourable	0.0	0.8	0.8	2.7	3.8	6.9
Absolutely not in favour	0.0	1.6	1.5	2.0	0.8	2.8

Table III. Estimated probability of family donating organs depending on whether participant would be registered organ donor or not, %

	If registered	If not registered
Absolutely certain	26.8	10.6
Very likely	33.2	29.5
Rather likely	20.2	27.1
Neither or	3.0	10.4
Rather unlikely	1.9	5.1
Very unlikely	1.0	3.6
Absolutely not	0.1	1.6
Don't know	8.7	12.2
No answer	5.0	0.0