RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The high morbidity and mortality caused by chronic kidney disease, and consequently, the increase in the need for kidney transplants, makes the evaluation of the kidney donation process relevant to verifying the service's fragility with the goal of optimizing this process. OBJECTIVE: This study analyzed the process of kidney donation in the Northern Macroregional area of Paraná, Brazil. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional and retrospective evaluation study based on 586 reports of deaths provided by the Intra-Hospital Organ Donation and Transplant Tissue Commissions to the Organ Procurement Organization of the Northern Macroregional area of Paraná in Brazil between 2011 and 2015. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, prevalence ratio, and Poisson regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of kidney donation was higher among the deaths of individuals younger than 61 years of age (P = .018) due to traumatic brain injury and hemorrhagic cardiovascular accident (P < .001), assisted in private institutions (P = .037), and occurring in the second half of the year (P = .015). CONCLUSION: The process of kidney donation was mainly compromised due to the refusal of the family and was associated with clinical and organizational aspects.