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Obstetric outcomes in Jehovah’s Witnesses: case series over nine years in a London teaching hospital

  • Maternal-Fetal Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of the study is to assess obstetric and fetal outcomes of Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) mothers in an inner city teaching hospital, as well as to examine the acceptance rates of various blood fractions and blood transfusion alternatives.

Methods

Case series to evaluate the maternal and fetal outcomes of JWs over a nine period between 2013 and 2021.

Results

There were 146 pregnancies extracted from our database, of which 10 were early pregnancy losses. Data from 136 deliveries > 24 weeks’ gestation were assessed, with a mean maternal age and gestational age of 30.26 (± 5.4) years and 38.7 (± 5.3) weeks, respectively. 57% had normal vaginal deliveries, 8% had instrumental births and 35% had caesarean births. Mean estimated blood loss at caesarean was 575 (± 305.6) mls, while the overall mean estimated loss was 427.8 (± 299.8) mls. Cell salvage was performed in all caesarean sections but autologous transfusion was only necessary for 26%. Consultant presence was documented in 62% of caesarean births. The mean birthweight and 5-min Apgar scores were 3.31 (± 0.05) kg and 9.1 (± 0.09), respectively. There were no maternal deaths or admissions to the adult intensive care unit and the most serious complication was a uterine rupture following a trial of scar, after which the baby required cooling for hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.

Conclusions

Pregnant JWs received obstetric care led by senior clinicians, with optimisation of haematinics, minimizing of blood loss at delivery and access to technology such as cell salvage.

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Data availability statement

Data available on request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all of the North London Jehovah’s Witnesses Hospital Liaison Committee for its’ continued engagement with healthcare professionals at our hospital.

Funding

This study received no funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, North Middlesex University Hospital, London, UK

    L. Berg, A. Dave, H. Ye, M. Farah & W. Yoong

  2. St. George’s International School of Medicine, St. George’s, Grenada

    J. Wei & P. Pattanakamjonkit

Authors
  1. L. Berg
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  2. A. Dave
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  3. H. Ye
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  4. J. Wei
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  5. P. Pattanakamjonkit
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  6. M. Farah
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  7. W. Yoong
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Contributions

LB project development, data collection, and manuscript writing. AD data collection, manuscript writing. HY data collection, manuscript writing. JW data collection. PP data collection. MF data collection. WY project development, data collection, manuscript writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to W. Yoong.

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Conflict of interest

All authors LB, AD, HY, JW, PP, MR and WY declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. The study was registered as a service improvement project (ID number 5467) and ethics approval was exempted by the Research Department of the hospital (letter of exemption available).

Informed consent

Not required as data were collated from electronic records and patient notes.

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Berg, L., Dave, A., Ye, H. et al. Obstetric outcomes in Jehovah’s Witnesses: case series over nine years in a London teaching hospital. Arch Gynecol Obstet 309, 475–481 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-023-06940-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-023-06940-x

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