Coronary artery bypass grafting in Jehovah's Witness patients: a retrospective propensity matched cohort study

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) in Jehovah's Witness (JW) patients raises concerns regarding perioperative safety because of refusal of allogeneic blood transfusions. This study evaluated the feasibility and short-term outcomes of CABG in JW patients and described perioperative blood management practices.

This retrospective observational study included 26 JW patients and 78 matched non-Jehovah's Witness (non-JW) patients who underwent CABG at InCor HC-FMUSP between 2015 and 2023. Propensity score matching at a 3:1 ratio based on age, sex, and preoperative hemoglobin was used to improve comparability. The primary outcome was 30-day all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included 30-day stroke, myocardial infarction, and acute kidney injury; ICU length of stay; perioperative red blood cell transfusion rates; postoperative hemoglobin and hematocrit; intraoperative blood loss; and cardiopulmonary bypass time.

No 30-day deaths occurred among JW patients, whereas three deaths occurred in the non-JW group (OR = 0.45; 95% CI 0.003-5.09; p = 0.575). No JW patient experienced stroke, and one myocardial infarction occurred. JW patients had higher postoperative hemoglobin (OR = 1.50; 95% CI 1.03-2.28; p = 0.032) and lower intraoperative blood loss (OR = 0.55; 95% CI 0.27-0.98; p = 0.046). No JW patient received transfusion, whereas 17.9% and 12.8% of non-JW patients required intraoperative and postoperative transfusions, respectively. ICU length of stay was similar between groups.

In this cohort, CABG in JW patients was feasible with acceptable short-term outcomes. Outcomes were generally comparable between groups, acknowledging imprecision related to the small JW sample.