Continuous 7-Month Internet of Things–Based Monitoring of Health Parameters of Pregnant and Postpartum Women: Prospective Observational Feasibility Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Monitoring during pregnancy is vital to ensure mothers and their infants’ health. Remote and continuous monitoring provides health care professionals with significant opportunities to observe health-related parameters in their patients and to detect any pathological signs at an early stage of pregnancy, and thus it may partly replace traditional appointments. OBJECTIVE To continuously monitor health parameters (physical activity/step counts, sleep duration and heart rate) of nulliparous women throughout pregnancy and until one month postpartum by way of a smart wristband worn by the women and an IoT-based solution to understand the possibilities of continuous long-term monitoring. METHODS A prospective observational pilot study utilized a convenience sample of 20 nulliparous women from the Hospital District of Southwest Finland. Continuous monitoring of physical activity/step counts, sleep and heart rate (HR) was performed by way of a smart wristband for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week over a 7-month period (6 months during pregnancy and 1 month postpartum). The smart wristband was connected to a cloud server. Self-reported physical activity (PA), sleep, and pregnancy and birth-related data were collected using semi-structured phone interviews and patient records. RESULTS Valid PA data were available from a mean of 127 (SD 49) days and sleep data from a mean of 116 (SD 62) days per participant during pregnancy. During the postpartum period, a mean of 12 (SD 10) days of valid PA data and 12 (SD 11) days of valid sleep data were available. Both PA and sleep time decreased as pregnancy progressed, and the decrease continued through the postpartum period. The mean resting HR increased towards the third trimester and returned to the early pregnancy level during the postpartum period. Only a few pregnant women reached the global recommendation of weekly PA. The participants’ subjective evaluations on activity and sleep did not correlate with the objective values. CONCLUSIONS The smart wristband with the IoT technology was an appropriate and useful device for continuous monitoring of health parameters during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Continuous monitoring provides real-time information between scheduled appointments and thus may be helpful for targeting and tailoring pregnancy follow-up. CLINICALTRIAL none