Characteristics of online medical care consultation for pregnant women during the COVID-19 outbreak: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, emergency traffic bans limited accessibility of some medical resource for pregnant women. Fear of viral transmission also prevented pregnant women from seeking routine antenatal care (ANC). This study described the needs of pregnant women and the contents of online obstetric consultation in representative areas with various severity of the epidemic in China. Methods From February 10 th to 23 rd , we collected data on online obstetric consultations and women’s satisfaction in mild, moderate and severe epidemic areas through an e-health provider’s platform. Information on women’s needs, contents of the consultation and satisfaction were collected and compared by epidemic areas. Results A total of 2599 pregnant women participated in this study, of whom 448, 1322 and 819 women were from the mild, moderate and severe epidemic areas, respectively. The distributions of the amount of online consultation were significantly different not only in different areas, but also in different trimesters. The more severe the epidemic was and the more advanced the pregnancy was, the higher the amount of second category (changed their schedules of ANC and/or delivery as well as method of delivery) was. 957 participants completed a satisfaction survey. For most of the participants, it’s their first time to use the e-health, and nearly 90% participants were completely or mostly satisfied with the online consultation. Conclusions Our study found that during the outbreak, many pregnant women had changed their scheduled ANC visits without authorization, and the more serious the epidemic was, the more common it occurred. The needs for online consultation was substantial. In order to prevent irreversible obstetric adverse events, an appropriate ANC contingency plan with e-health services is highly recommended during the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).