BackgroundCardiac surgery in Jehovah’s Witnesses may be challenging during the operation and postoperative period given their refusal of blood products. The aim of this study was to document our center’s experience with Jehovah’s Witnesses undergoing major cardiac surgery and to compare surgical outcomes with a matched control group.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the demographic, perioperative, and in-hospital postoperative data for 31 Jehovah’s Witness patients undergoing surgery from 1991 to 2012 and compared findings with a control group of 62 patients of the same sex and age, who underwent the same type of operations in the same period. Early mortality, major in-hospital morbidity, laboratory findings, and hospital stays were compared between groups.ResultsDemographic data were similar between groups, except that more patients in the Jehovah’s Witness group had extracardiac arteriopathy compared with controls (p = 0.04). There was no difference in predicted mortality, calculated by the Euroscore II, between groups (2.8 ± 3.3 in study group versus 2.4 ± 2.2 in control group, p = 0.469). For postoperative outcomes, there were no differences between Jehovah’s Witnesses versus controls in hospital mortality (3 % versus 2 %, p = 0.548), total drain loss (847 ± 583 mL versus 812 ± 365 mL, p = 0.721), mechanical ventilation time (1.26 ± 2.24 versus 0.89 ± 0.55 days, p = 0.218), intensive care unit stay (4.3 ± 3.9 versus 3 ± 1.4 days, p = 0.080), and hospital stay (12.9 ± 7.6 versus 10.9 ± 6.6 days, p = 0.223).ConclusionsOutcomes after cardiac surgery are similar between Jehovah’s Witnesses and general population, in centers applying rigorous blood patient management protocols.

Aim The objective of the study was to assess mortality rates in COVID-19 patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) who also requiring mechanical ventilation. The predictors of mortality in this cohort were analysed, and the clinical characteristics recorded. Material and method A single centre retrospective study was conducted on all COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit of the Epicura Hospital Center, Province of Hainaut, Belgium, between March 1st and April 30th 2020. Results Forty-nine patients were included in the study of which thirty-four were male, and fifteen were female. The mean (SD) age was 68.8 (10.6) and 69.5 (12.6) for males and females, respectively. The median time to death after the onset of symptoms was eighteen days. The median time to death, after hospital admission was nine days. By the end of the thirty days follow-up, twenty-seven patients (55%) had died, and twenty–two (45%) had survived. Non-survivors, as compared to those who survived, were similar in gender, prescribed medications, COVID-19 symptoms, with similar laboratory test results. They were significantly older (p = 0.007), with a higher co-morbidity burden (p = 0.026) and underwent significantly less tra-cheostomy (p < 0.001). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, no parameter significantly predicted mortality. Conclusions This study reported a mortality rate of 55% in critically ill COVID-19 patients with ARDS who also required mechanical ventilation. The results corroborate previous findings that older and more comorbid patients represent the population at most risk of a poor outcome in this setting.

Background We previously analyzed morbidity and mortality in Jehovah’s Witnesses patients after cardiac surgery compared to control population patients. Patients who were Jehovah’s Witnesses were operated in accordance with their philosophical convictions and in respect of their refusal of transfusions. We propose to assess long-term survival and quality of life in the patients of this preliminary study. Methods We contacted 31 adult Jehovah’s Witnesses patients who underwent heart surgery at the Brugmann hospital between 1991 and 2012 and compared them to a control population of 62 patients that had no transfusion restriction, and matched them for sex, age at the time of intervention and the type of surgery performed. We compared long-term quality of life in both populations through the MacNew software, a validated instrument to assess quality of life of patients with cardiovascular disease. The long-term survival of patients was analyzed by Kaplan Meier curves. Results Long-term quality of life and survival do not appear different between the two groups. Patient evaluation by MacNew software shows comparable physical ( p = 0.54), emotional ( p = 0.12), social ( p = 0.21) and global ( p = 0.25) scores between the two populations. The analysis of the actuarial survival curves shows no differences in terms of long-term survival of these patients ( p = 0.37). Conclusions Cardiac surgery in Jehovah’s Witnesses can be performed with identical long-term quality of life and survival compared to surgery without blood transfusion restriction, if one follows rigorous blood conserving strategies. Trial registration NCT03348072 . Retrospectively registered 16 November 2017.

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