Organ donations and transplants skyrocket during motorbike rallies

By Alice Clifford via SWNS

Organ donations and transplants skyrocket during motorbike rallies, reveals a new study from Harvard.

Over the course of the seven largest motorcycle rallies in the US, which took place between 2005 and 2021, organ donor numbers in the respective hosting regions during the events rose by 21 percent.

Additionally, there were on average 26 percent more transplant recipients each day.

The seven motorcycle rallies in the study each bring more than 200,000 visitors over the course of several days.

Daytona Bike Week in Florida and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota are ten-day events that each see around 500,000 visitors in attendance.

Previous studies have shown that these events are accompanied by a rise in traumatic injuries and deaths from motor vehicle crashes.

This new study went further and discovered that organ donations and transplants rose at the same rate as these trauma-related fatalities.

The team analyzed records from 10,798 organ donors and 35,329 recipients in regions where the largest motorcycle rallies take place.

On rally days, there were 406 organ donors and 1,400 transplant recipients.

During the four weeks before and after the rallies, there were a total of 2,332 organ donors and 7,714 transplant recipients in these areas.

However, the length of time people spent waiting for an organ transplant and the severity of their illness was similar whether there was a rally happening or not.

This showed that despite an increase in organs available during these times, it still isn’t enough to relieve the critical shortage of donor organs in the US.

To rule out the influence of other factors, the team compared figures from the rally locations with other regions that didn’t host events.

They also looked at trends in the rally regions at other times of the year.

Currently, in the US there are over 106,000 people waiting for a transplant, with 87 percent of them waiting for a kidney.

According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, 17 people die each day in the US waiting for an organ transplant.

Dr. David Cron, Harvard Medical School clinical fellow in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital's Department of Surgery, and lead author of the study, said: “The spikes in organ donations and transplantations that we found in our analysis are disturbing, even if not entirely surprising because they signal a systemic failure to avoid preventable deaths, which is a tragedy.

“There is a clear need for better safety protocols around such events.”

Dr. Cron added: “At the same time, it is important for transplant communities in places where these events are held to be aware of the potential for increased organ donors during those periods.

“Organ donation is often called the gift of life, and we should make sure that we do not squander it and can turn any of these tragic deaths into a chance to potentially save other lives.”

Bike rallies are generally large, crowded events that take place in rural areas or small towns. The traffic infrastructure is often intended for much smaller populations and far less traffic compared to race days.

To help solve this issue, the researchers suggest that event organizers should pay close attention to overall traffic management and encourage wearing helmets and practice safe motorcycle operation.

For the towns that hold the rallies and the people who attend, there are many economic and personal benefits.

However, understanding all the possible consequences of an event can help organizers and participants plan better to minimize the risk of fatal incidents.

Dr. Anupam Jena, the Joseph P. Newhouse Professor of Health Care Policy in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, and senior author of the study, said: “Nothing in life is ever completely safe. Our priority should be to make risky events like motorcycle rallies as safe as they can be.

“But it’s also critical to have a clear understanding of how these events impact the health of individuals and the health care systems that we all rely on so that we can give participants, event organizers, and policymakers the context and data they need to make smart choices.”

The study was published in the JAMA Internal Medicine Journal.