Survey of cadaveric donor application files: 1978-1993.

Information derived from application files of potential cadaveric donors to our body donation program from the period of 1978-1993 was entered into a customized database to assess the characteristics of people contributing to such a program. A total of 1,267 application files were reviewed and the following information analyzed: 1) year of application submission, 2) age, 3) sex, 4) race, 5) marital status, 6) education, 7) occupation, and 8) disposition of cremains (return or not to family). Overall the typical body donor applicant to our program was likely to be a white married female homemaker of about 70 years of age. She was a high school graduate and chose not to have her cremains returned to her family. The males closely follow the above mentioned characteristics (with the exception of occupation), but were outnumbered by females in nearly every category throughout the span of our analysis. An analysis of the application numbers over the 15 year period of our survey indicated a reduction in applications during the period of 1982-1984 and a linear increase of applicant numbers from 1989 to 1993. Finally, we observed a tendency for married couples to donate together with 32.1% of our married applicants showing this phenomenon.