Women Receptive to Smart Wearable Technology During Pregnancy

FRIDAY, Aug. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Prospective pregnant women report a willingness for continuous electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring through wearable technology, according to a study published online July 14 in the Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Colin Wakefield, from the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues evaluated how 507 women (aged 18 to 45 years) who are expecting to become pregnant in the next five years perceive the use of remote fetal ECG monitoring technologies. The wearable ECG device was described as the size of a "patch-sized large band-aid" on their abdomen.

The researchers found that 91 percent of women expressed acceptance of wearable ECG technology throughout the pregnancy as a mechanism for increased frequency of monitoring of maternal and fetal health outside the hospital. Three-quarters of women (78 percent) expressed a willingness to wear devices day and night or at least during sleep, and 42 percent of respondents said they would spend up to $200 on such a device.

"Smart wearable ECG devices can enable pregnant women to monitor their health and that of their fetuses, but it was not known how women of child-bearing age perceive the use of remote fetal ECG monitoring technologies throughout the pregnancy period," the authors write. "This study indicates a high degree of readiness of prospective pregnant women for telemedicine with continuous health monitoring of the mother-fetus dyad."

One author disclosed patents on ECG and electroencephalogram technologies for fetal monitoring.

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