Women’s knowledge about umbilical cord blood stem cell banking: a socio-demographic survey

ABSTRACT Introduction: Positive results of experimental stem cell therapies have given hope for effective treatments in various areas of medicine. The most valuable and widely used are cells taken from umbilical cord blood, which have an advantage over cells originating from other sources due to their greater abilities to regenerate. However, the level of knowledge on stem cells among those who can be their direct source remains unknown. Therefore, the main aim of the study was to investigate women’s knowledge regarding stem cells and umbilical cord blood banking. Materials and methods: 180 patients from the Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Independent Public Clinical Hospital no. 2 of the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin (Poland) in the period from June to November 2015 were involved to the study. The author’s own questionnaire was used, consisting of 20 questions. Statistical analysis was performed with StatSoft Statistica 10 software, using Shapiro–Wilk test, Mann–Whitney U test, Pearson’s χ2 test, and Spearman’s correlation coefficient. The value p < 0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Results: Out of the surveyed women 83.89% knew about possibility of taking stem cells from cord blood. 65.56% of women were aware of the possibility of applying them in the future. 88.1% of women who decided to store their umbilical cord blood took into account the possibility of using the stem cells in the future. Those who refused (49.44%) cited financial problems as the reason behind their decision. Higher level of knowledge about stem cell banking was observed among women living in urban areas, married, university graduates or those with a better financial situation (p < 0.001). Conclusions: 1. The level of women’s general knowledge on stem cells was satisfactory. 2. Women’s opinion on collecting and using stem cells from cord blood depended on the place of living, marital status, level of education and financial situation. 3. High costs of collecting and storing cord blood adversely affected the decision on banking cord blood stem cells.