Public Awareness on Cord Blood Banking in Saudi Arabia

Public awareness and understanding of stem cell treatments available in Saudi Arabia and their trust in hospitals and research centers involved in stem cell research-a cross sectional study

Introduction

Although stem cell research and therapeutic applications hold great promise for medical advancements, and have rapidly progressed globally, there remains a lack of genuine public awareness of the status of this subject in Saudi Arabia. Successful integration of stem cell therapy into healthcare relies on public awareness, understanding, and trust. Therefore, we aimed in this cross-sectional study to assess the public's knowledge, awareness, trust, support, participation, and confidence in stem cell treatments and centers involved in it.

Materials and methods

A voluntary questionnaire of 20 questions was distributed randomly via social media outlets.

Results

Three thousand five hundred eighty four individuals participated in the survey, with approximately half of them falling within the age range of 35-50 years (46.71%). Majority of the participants, 90.71%, would like to know more about stem cell therapy and more than half of the participants (56.94%) were unfamiliar with the idea, and a comparable proportion (50.41%) expressed concerns about the safety of stem cell therapy. A lower level of awareness, indicated by a score of 5, was evenly distributed across all age groups and genders. However, regardless of gender, older participants-especially those 50 years of age or older-tended to report higher levels of confidence, trust, and support than participants in other age groups. Moreover, trust, support, participation, and confidence score for those attained high school or less was statistically significantly lower than those attained master's or PhD degree. Of the participants, 33.57% had either received stem cell therapy themselves or known someone who had; about 24.07% of them reported that it was a cosmetic type of treatment.

Conclusion

The study emphasizes the persistent need for awareness and educational initiatives to minimize the lack of public awareness and understanding of approved stem cell treatments in Saudi Arabia. It advocates for increased education, transparency, and communication to bridge knowledge gaps and enhance public trust to ensure the understanding of successful treatment.

Exploring Parental Knowledge, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Decision-Making in Stem Cell Banking: Rising the Future of Medical Treatment

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Stem cell banking (SCB) is a promising area of modern medicine with the potential to yield innovative treatments and cures. To effectively educate parents and implement laws and regulations that address parental concerns and encourage informed decision-making, it is imperative to emphasize parental viewpoints and their consequences for future healthcare. The study aims to establish the Saudi Arabian population's level of understanding regarding SCB and to comprehend the elements influencing parental knowledge, attitudes, and SCB decision-making processes.

METHODOLOGY

A cross-sectional study was conducted among the population in the Makkah region of Saudi Arabia. Demographic data, knowledge levels, attitudes, and decision-making variables were gathered from 380 respondents.

RESULTS

The study reveals a lack in their comprehension of the objectives and possible uses of SCB, together with the main sources of information on those banks and conveniently available banking choices. It showed varied results regarding attitudes about considering an SCB for their children. In addition, the majority of respondents had not made a consent decision about SCB for their children. It also illuminates the factors that could influence participants' decisions about SCB for their children and shows that a lack of information and understanding is the main obstacle faced by parents regarding SCB. It highlights that participants were generally in favor of learning more about SCB for their children.

CONCLUSIONS

This study broadens our understanding of parental decision-making toward SCB and clarifies the elements influencing parents' opinions and worries and offers significant ramifications for lawmakers, medical professionals, and SCB. These implications can be utilized to enhance communication strategies, create instructional programs, and ease the fears of concerned parents.

A Multicenter Study to Determine Knowledge and Perceptions on Stem Cell Donation, Transplantation Among Saudi Medical Students

BACKGROUND

Despite significant contributions to stem cell research in Saudi Arabia, knowledge and awareness of stem cell research is the subject of ongoing studies with controversial findings, specifically among medical students. This was a cross-sectional study with 685 medical students aimed to explore their knowledge and attitudes in relation to stem cell research and transplantation.

METHODS

A validated survey exploring knowledge and attitudes in relation to stem cell research and transplantation was administered. The total knowledge, attitude, and age scores were presented through mean and SD RESULTS: The results of the present study showed that university students in the Eastern Province had an average 35.88 knowledge of stem cell research. In contrast, the attitudes were positive among the entire study sample, with a mean of 3.79 out of 5. Both men and women had significant knowledge about the definition of stem cells and adult stem cells, bone marrow, whether stem cells can be used for drug testing, and recommended stem cell treatment if available.

CONCLUSIONS

The medical curriculum needs to be refined and enriched with additional data on organ and stem cell donation. This can be further enriched with experimental evidence through additional training initiatives that will allow those with negative attitudes to re-evaluate their perceptions and provide accurate information to patients as future health care providers.

Assessing the cognition, attitudes and intentions of volunteers regarding unrelated peripheral blood stem cell donation: The UPBSC-DQ instrument in Chinese

Objectives

This study aimed to develop and validate the Unrelated Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation Questionnaire (UPBSC-DQ) (an instrument in Chinese) to assess the degree of cognition, attitude and intention of enrolled volunteers towards UPBSC donation.

Methods

The development process of the UPBSC-DQ was performed in a stepwise approach that included extensive literature retrieval, expert revision, and pretesting with 442 students. We conducted an online cross-sectional survey using the final version of the UPBSC-DQ among 336 participants. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach's α and corrected item-total correlation (CITC), and the validity was evaluated by a correlation coefficient matrix, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and t-test.

Results

The UPBSC-DQ consists of four domains: basic information, cognitive, attitude, and intention. The Cronbach's α values were 0.88 and 0.86 for the attitude and intention scales, respectively, indicating strong internal consistency and good reliability. Correlation analysis and CFA showed good structure and content validity. Interitem correlations indicated that each item had only a weak correlation with the other scales.

Conclusions

The UPBSC-DQ is a reliable and valid assessment questionnaire for individuals' attitudes and intentions towards UPBSC donation. The questionnaire showed good to high reliability, content and construct validity.

Drivers of consumers' behavioral intention toward private umbilical cord blood banking: a review

Immunitary bioeconomy encompasses a significant share of the bioeconomy that is accompanied by a ‎high degree of complexity and various religious and ethical controversies for both customers and the ‎service providers. Compared to blood banking, these complexities are more substantial for the ‎new state-of-the-art technology of umbilical cord blood (UCB) banking, in which the viable ‎therapeutically active substance of cord blood (i.e., cord blood stem cells (CBSCs)) is banked for much ‎less likely future demand. It became even more complicated when we knew that the main three types ‎of cord blood banking industry (i.e., private, public, or hybrid models) are not the same regarding ‎economic, ‎ethical, and even social considerations. The present paper aims to review and discuss the ‎main drivers of behavioral intention among the customers of private UCB banking. We focused on ‎private UCB banking because, although there is a low likelihood of childs' future need for their siblings' ‎CBSCs, there is an unnecessary growing demand for using private UCB banking services. Based on the ‎previously published pieces of research, we discussed five main influential factors (i.e., awareness, ‎reference group, usability, disease history, and price) that can affect the customers' risk perception ‎‎(and further their behavioral intention) to preserve their child UCB for private applications. Finally, we ‎concluded that private UCB banking must not be considered a commercial activity, and ethically healthcare ‎managers must be more actively involved in ‎facilitating the proper flow of information among the ‎customers.

Inconsistencies in Pregnant Mothers' Attitudes and Willingness to Donate Umbilical Cord Stem Cells: A Cross-Sectional Analysis from Saudi Arabia

The collection and storage of umbilical cord stem cells (UCSCs) have a crucial role in improving and expanding stem cell-based therapies, which are becoming popular in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries. Many patients and families in Saudi Arabia depend on private cord banks in foreign countries to purchase stem cells, which has financial and medical implications. The current study aims at determining the predictors of current registration status and willingness to donate cord blood stem cells among expectant mothers in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study collected data from 714 expectant mothers from all thirteen regions of Saudi Arabia in December 2022. The online survey questionnaire assessed women's awareness, direct and indirect exposure to stem-cell therapy, sources of knowledge, willingness, reluctance, and current registration status to donate cord blood. Although women demonstrated higher acceptance and lower rejection towards the donation of UCSCs, just one percent (n = 7; 1%) of expectant mothers in this sample are registered with the Saudi Stem Cell Registry. Overall, 48% indicated their willingness to register in the future. Both correlational analysis and multiple regression analysis demonstrated that awareness significantly predicted willingness to donate (p < 0.01), and rejection attitudes were negatively related to willingness to donate (p < 0.001). Although the mean scores on acceptance were high, they were not found to be significantly associated with willingness to donate. Prior direct and indirect exposure to stem cell therapy appeared to be the strongest predictor of pregnant women's willingness to register (p < 0.001). Findings suggest that acceptance attitudes do not have a symmetrical relationship with intention. Women's prior exposure to stem cell therapy was the most significant factor; therefore, findings demonstrate that currently women are relying on their firsthand experience to decide about cord blood donation rather than the information obtained from other sources, such as social media and the internet. Though attitudes were not identified as significant predictors in the statistical models, awareness was a relevant factor, and the findings signify increasing awareness in various target populations to enhance the probability of intention to donate cord stem cells.

An Infodemic of Misinformation on Stem Cell Therapy Among the Population of Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

In recent years, the industry of unproven stem cell-based therapies has been on the rise around the globe, putting patients at great risk of potential harm. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to assess the level of knowledge and awareness of the general public, including patients and/or their relatives, in Saudi Arabia on stem cell therapy and to assess the degree of willingness to try stem cell-based treatment options, should it be offered to them.

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

Maternal breastfeeding is associated with multiple health benefits, both for the child and the mother. Since breastfeeding rates are declining, finding new, future-oriented strategies to strengthen and support mothers' positive attitudes towards breastfeeding need to be developed. In this paper, we describe how information about the presence of stem cells in breast milk can influence the willingness to breastfeed in the population of Polish pregnant women. A cross-sectional study involving a group of 150 pregnant women was conducted to assess the correlation between their knowledge about stem cells and their attitude towards breastfeeding. Among the respondents, only 6% claimed that they did not know anything about stem cells, but general knowledge about stem cells in the research group was poor. The survey results indicated that city residence, university degree, maternal experience and advanced pregnancy correlated with higher general knowledge regarding stem cells. Most respondents (77.3%) had no knowledge regarding the presence of stem cells in breast milk. Approximately two-thirds of mothers with earlier negative breastfeeding experience declared that information about the presence of stem cells in breast milk could have influenced the decision to continue and extend the time of breastfeeding. Hence highlighting the presence of stem cells in breast milk can be used to encourage breastfeeding as a unique activity.

Knowledge and attitudes towards stem cells and the significance of their medical application among healthcare sciences students of Jouf University

Background

Adequate knowledge and positive attitude of the medical and dental students towards the stem cells and their utilization in medical science is extremely important keeping in view the ever-increasing potential of stem cells in the medical field. The present study was planned to assess the knowledge and attitude of the medical and dental students towards stem cells and their applications in medical science.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 217 medical and dental college students of the Jouf University. The systematic random sampling method was used to select students based on gender and year of study. After obtaining written informed consent, a self-administered questionnaire consisting of three parts was administered to the students. The first part collected the socio-demographic details; part 2 contains 15 questions regarding knowledge and part 3 contains 10 questions regarding attitude towards stem cells.

Results

Majority of the participants were males (54.4%) in the age group of 21-22 years. Awareness regarding Saudi stem cell donor registry was observed in 50.7% of the students . A total of 72.4% of the students possessed medium knowledge while 70% of the students possessed high attitude score towards stem cell research and its medical significance. A significant relationship was observed between the Saudi Stem Cell Donor Registry awareness and knowledge score with p-value of 0.04. Relationship between the knowledge and attitude scores was significant with p-value of 0.001 and with a Pearson correlation score of r = 0.334.

Conclusion

Medium to high level of knowledge was noted among majority of the participants and a high attitude score was also noted towards stem cells and their relevance. A significant positive correlation was observed between the knowledge and attitude scores. It is recommended to include various interventional educational programs for the medical and dental students on the significance of stem cells in the medical field.

A prospective Saudi dental stem-cell bank from the perspective of the public and dental practitioners: A cross sectional survey

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study (1) To evaluate the Saudi public's knowledge and attitude on dental stem cells (DSC) for therapeutic/banking purposes, (2) To evaluate the perception of Saudi dentists towards DSC and their attitude towards banking of DSC.

METHODOLOGY

This was a cross-sectional study based on an electronic survey distributed through the social media nationwide among the Saudi public, and through paper-based surveys among dentists in Riyadh. By convenience, eligible study participants were Saudi adults from the community and dentists from 17 dental centers in different regions of Riyadh. Using SPSS v. 25, descriptive statistics (n,%; PMS ± SD) and bivariate analyses (Pearson's Chi square, Mann Whitney) were conducted to determine factors associated with the study outcomes, with a P value statistically significant at <0.05.

RESULTS

For the Saudi public, 1494 participants completed the survey. The PMS ± SD of public knowledge was 25.5 ± 25.9, while their attitude was 80.2 ± 27.0. Factors associated with higher knowledge scores were younger age groups, while female participants, older age groups, university educated and employed participants had higher attitude. For Saudi dentists, 246/262 (94%) dentists responded to the questionnaire. Their PMS ± SD of perception towards DSC research for regenerative purposes was 74.5 ± 15.6. Factors associated with higher perception scores were those with more experience. Dentists who had higher perception scores towards DSCs were significantly more willing to save teeth for regenerative dental treatment.

CONCLUSION

The Saudi public community had poor knowledge about the therapeutic and research benefits of DSC, yet high degree of attitude to enroll in a future Saudi DSC bank. Saudi dentists had moderately high levels of perception towards DSC research.

Knowledge and Attitude Among Lebanese Pregnant Women Toward Cord Blood Stem Cell Storage and Donation

Background: Umbilical cord blood (UCB) used to be considered waste material and was discarded at birth. However, cord blood is now considered a rich source of adult stem cells that can be used to treat many conditions and diseases. This study was performed to determine pregnant women's knowledge and attitudes toward cord blood stem cell banking and donation in Lebanon. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted in antenatal clinics in Beirut and data were collected using a questionnaire distributed to pregnant women after provision of informed consent. A total of 244 women responded. Results: Less than half of the women (46%) reported knowledge about cord blood banking. However, participants with university and secondary education had significantly higher odds of considering UCB storage compared to those with primary education (odds ratio (OR) 8.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.74-27.15 and OR 21.23,95% CI 6.55-68.86, respectively). Older pregnant women were less likely to think about UCB stem cells storage (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.85-0.98). Conclusion: Respondents who had an existing knowledge about UCB stem cells banking in general were more likely to consider storing UCB in blood banks if affordable (45.9%). Therefore, it is necessary to inform pregnant women about stem cell banking so that they can make the appropriate decisions for themselves.