{"id":58323,"date":"2019-12-17T16:28:20","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T23:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=58323"},"modified":"2019-12-17T16:28:20","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T23:28:20","slug":"cord-blood-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/cord-blood-research\/","title":{"rendered":"CHER study assesses umbilical cord blood banking by American Indian parents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the first cord blood transfusion was performed in 1988, doctors have performed more than 40,000 cord blood transplants worldwide to treat more than 80 life-threatening illnesses, including leukemia, lymphoma, blood cancers and sickle cell disease. Despite the need, about 96 percent of cord blood is discarded from the nearly four million births in the United States each year, according to data from the Save the Cord Foundation.<\/a><\/p>\n

With less than 1 percent of the American Indian population donating umbilical cord blood to public cord blood banks, researchers at the Arizona Biomedical Research Centre (ABRC) were interested in discovering why donations were low.<\/p>\n

\u201cCord blood stem cell donation is important for the treatment of several blood disorders and cancers, but many ethnic groups are underrepresented in public cord banks because they often don\u2019t have access to public cord blood banks,\u201d said Kristan Elwell<\/strong>, an assistant research professor at Center for Health Equity Health Research<\/a> (CHER) and the Department of Health Sciences<\/a> at Northern Arizona University. \u201cMost people are more aware of the private banks, but can\u2019t afford them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Private cord blood banking is about $1,675 plus another $175 a year, according to the CBR website<\/a>, a California cryobank company with a center in Tucson.<\/p>\n

Elwell said the ABRC wanted to take an ethnographic approach to understanding why donations among American Indian parents were particularly low, so they contacted NAU to conduct the study, which included Elwell, Emery Eaves<\/strong>, an assistant research professor in Department of Anthropology<\/a> and a CHER affiliate, Julie Baldwin<\/strong>, CHER director and Regents\u2019 Professor, Katharine Sanderson<\/strong>, senior program coordinator with CHER, and Robert T. Trotter II, <\/strong>Regents\u2019 Professor in the Department of Anthropology. Elwell and Eaves were co-principal investigators on the study.<\/p>\n

According to the Arizona Public Cord Blood Program, umbilical cord blood remains in the blood vessels of the placenta and the umbilical cord after the baby is born and the cord has been clamped and cut. It contains blood-forming stem cells and has been proven to be a viable method for treating a variety of diseases.<\/p>\n

Cord blood is one of the several places in the body that contain stem cells, others being the brain, heart, skin, teeth, gut, liver, skeletal muscle, testis, bone marrow and more, according to the Arizona Public Cord Blood Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can encourage more American Indians to donate cord blood, it will provide more opportunities for patients to get stem cell transplants,\u201d Elwell said.<\/p>\n

Study assesses beliefs, attitudes and cultural practices<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The primary goal of the two-year study was to better understand underlying beliefs, attitudes and cultural practices of American Indian community members that influence views and attitudes toward cord blood donation. Another goal of the study was to assess professionals, such as obstetricians, nurses and nurse-midwives, as potential sources of information for cord blood donors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe study was important because beliefs about cord blood donation are not well understood, and without a good understanding of what people know and think about donation, it is difficult for consenters, providers or home health workers to explain the implications of donation to American Indian parents,\u201d Eaves said. \u201cIt is important that all parents have the information they need to make an informed decision that makes sense for them and that they understand what the program is about when they’re approached in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers interviewed health care providers including obstetricians, gynecologists, midwives, labor and delivery nurses, childbirth educators, cord blood program consenters, members of American Indian tribes and pre- and post-delivery mothers.<\/p>\n

Study recommendations<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The researchers provided the ABRC with a list of recommendations:<\/p>\n