Cord Blood Banking: Antenatal Care Provider’s Roles and Responsibilities

Abstract

Background. Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB) banking done either for private storage or for donation to public cord blood banks involves active participation of obstetricians. Counseling the expectant parents, providing them with unbiased and balanced information, and collecting the UCB with diligence confer a lot of social as well as moral responsibility upon obstetricians. This makes it even more important that the obstetricians in current practice stay well-informed and updated with UCB collection and its storage guidelines. The present study was conducted to assess the current status of obstetricians about UCB banking in terms of their awareness, attitude, and expectations from it. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted across three hospitals. A self-administered 22-item questionnaire was given to obstetricians to assess their awareness, attitude, and expectations about UCB banking. Finally, 154 completed questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS software (version 15.0). The awareness, attitude, and expectations were assessed and reported as primary endpoints and the self-rated knowledge levels, and sources of information were reported as secondary endpoints. Results. Overall, the awareness was poor, but the attitude was favorable for UCB banking amongst obstetricians. Around 74% felt that obstetricians must be well-informed about UCB banking-related counseling and collection protocols. However, 55% felt it to be an additional burden for the obstetrician, and 57% believed that financial compensation must be given to obstetricians involved with cord blood collection procedures. The majority remained unclear about their expectations from UCB banking. The self-rated knowledge was poor and very poor for 75% obstetricians. 89.6% derived their information from representatives of private cord blood companies. Conclusion. Although poor in awareness levels, obstetricians possessed a favorable attitude towards UCB banking. Continuing medical education needs to focus more on such current issues of public importance to keep professionals updated. This is one way to minimise percolation of wrong facts and figures by the industries with conflicting interest to the healthcare providers.

Changes in Knowledge about Umbilical Cord Blood Banking and Genetic Tests among Pregnant Women from Polish Urban and Rural Areas between 2010–2012 and 2017

“…One can conclude that the less knowledge the health professional has, the poorer the consultation will be, and the rate of UBC banking will remain low. These conclusions are also suggested by others [ 25 , 26 ]. In most countries there are two possibilities for cord blood banking: by donation in public banks or by user-pays storage for private use [ 27 , 28 ].…”

How Knowledge about Stem Cells Influences Attitudes towards Breastfeeding: Case Study of Polish Women

“…In Poland, that phenomenon can be connected with advertising and a strong private network of cord blood banks, which store cord blood for future use by the donor or his/her relatives. However, many studies have also demonstrated a positive attitude towards cord blood donation, even towards public storage [ 30 , 31 ]. The results obtained show that some pregnant women knew that additional perinatal tissues containing stem cells with potential therapeutic value are routinely discarded as medical waste.…”

Knowledge, Awareness, and Attitudes toward Umbilical Cord Blood Biobanking

“…A review of UCB awareness studies found contradictory findings [8]. A number of studies reported a high level of awareness of UCB banking among women [9], [10], [11], while others reported a low level of awareness [7], [12], [13]. Further, knowledge and awareness of UCB banking among health professionals were relatively low [5], [14] despite these health professionals being identified by expectant parents as their preferred, key sources of information [5].…”

“…According to Peberdy et al [5], [8], most of the current studies were focused on professionals, donors, pregnant women, or potential parents. There are only a few studies involving general public [9], [13]. The majority of studies reported that personal characteristics, such as age and education, did not matter when evaluating UCB banking.…”