JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Liver transplantation (LT) is the only curative option for end stage liver disease. Less than 10% of global transplantation needs are met worldwide and the need for LT is still increasing. Death rates on the waiting list remain too high. To acquire more donors raising the awareness in the public and among healthcare providers is mandatory.

Objective:

To acquire more donors raising the awareness in the public and among healthcare providers is mandatory.

Methods:

We performed a Google Trends™ search with the search term “liver-transplantation” between 2004 and 2018. We investigated the worldwide trend but also analyzed data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), Spain and Eurotransplant. Google Trends™ indices were pursued over time and compared to the total number of liver transplants retrieved from the respective official websites of UNOS, ONT and Eurotransplant.

Results:

From 2004-2018 there was a significant decrease of the worldwide Google Trends™ index from 78.2 in 2004 to 20.5 in 2018 (-71.2%). The trend was most evident in the UNOS compared to Eurotransplant. In the same time-period the number of transplanted livers increased worldwide. Mortality on the waiting list was 30.6% in Eurotransplant and 29.3% in the UNOS. On the other hand, in Spain with excellent awareness programs, the Google Trends™ index remained stable over the years with comparable increasing LT numbers but a significantly lower waiting list mortality (14.7%).

Conclusions:

This study indicates a decreased public interest in liver transplantation. There is a clear signal to raise public awareness. New and profound awareness programs are able to reverse this trend and allow for allocation of more potential donors.