The presence of a supporting person during delivery affects cord blood haematopoietic stem cells

Abstract

Several randomised trials have shown that support during labour improves the outcomes of both mother and the newborn. There is a lack of information concerning the influence of the supporting person on cord blood haematopoietic stem cells (CB HSCs), thus, these cells have been determined to be a suitable graft source for haematopoietic transplantations. This study was aimed to examine the relation between the presence of the accompanying person during labour and some features of CB HSCs. Interestingly, we found that supported deliveries were characterised by lower CB volume and lower counts of HSCs and mononuclear cells in CB. We concluded that the presence of a supporting person during labour seems to affect the yield of HSCs.

Keywords::

• Cord blood
• haematopoietic stem cells
• supported labour

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the volunteers and donors of CB at each of the locations specified. We are grateful for the efforts of the attending physicians and the staff from the Obstetric-Gynaecological Department of St. Adalbert Hospital in Gdansk and from the Department of Obstetrics of the Medical University of Gdansk.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Financial support: Polish State Committee for Scientific Research (Grant No. 2 PO5A 088 30).