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Girls who obtain extra digital antenatal care throughout their second or third trimesters might expertise poorer being pregnant outcomes, together with greater dangers of preterm delivery, cesarean sections and neonatal intensive care unit admissions, a brand new research suggests.
Elevated digital antenatal care in later being pregnant was additionally discovered to be related to decrease charges of early skin-to-skin contact with the new child and fewer cases of breastfeeding as the primary feed.
Led by King’s Faculty London and printed within the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the research checked out associations between digital antenatal care and being pregnant outcomes in additional than 34,000 pregnancies from a various South London inhabitants, from durations earlier than and through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Girls had been cut up into 4 teams, in line with the proportion of digital antenatal care appointments acquired throughout their being pregnant—low and steady digital antenatal care all through being pregnant, excessive first trimester digital antenatal care, excessive second trimester digital antenatal care, and excessive third trimester digital antenatal care.
Being pregnant and delivery final result information had been obtained from hospital data by way of the Early Life Cross-Linkage in Analysis, Born in South London (eLIXIR-BiSL) platform.
Analyses of the information revealed that in contrast with those that acquired a low and steady proportion of digital antenatal care all through their being pregnant, girls who acquired a excessive proportion of digital antenatal care of their second trimester skilled extra untimely births (earlier than 37 weeks), labor inductions, breech presentation, and bleeding after delivery.
As well as, girls who acquired a excessive proportion of digital antenatal care of their third trimester had extra untimely births (earlier than 37 weeks), elective or emergency cesarean sections, and neonatal intensive care unit admissions, in addition to decrease charges of third- or fourth-degree vaginal tears, early skin-to-skin contact with the new child and fewer cases of breastfeeding as the primary feed.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, using digital antenatal care elevated, to restrict face-to-face contact and stop unfold of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Whereas analysis has seemed on the experiences of ladies and well being care suppliers receiving and delivering digital care, fewer research have centered on the affect of digital antenatal care on being pregnant outcomes.
“Our work adds an important perspective to the growing evidence base on virtual antenatal care, suggesting that the timing of its use during pregnancy may influence pregnancy outcomes,” stated Dr. Katie Dalrymple, Lecturer at King’s and first writer of the research.
The findings construct on an earlier research by the staff that discovered that digital maternity care through the COVID-19 pandemic was linked to greater NHS prices—with every 1% enhance in digital antenatal care related to a £7 enhance in maternity prices to the NHS.
Along with the price implications of digital care, the findings from the brand new research recommend that digital antenatal care might include elevated dangers to mom and child. The authors conclude that cautious consideration could also be wanted to attenuate these dangers earlier than utilizing digital antenatal care in future well being system shocks or to interchange face-to-face care.
“Our study findings suggest the need for careful integration of virtual care in maternity services, to minimize potential risks,” said Professor Laura Magee, Professor of Girls’s Well being at King’s and co-senior writer of the paper.
Extra data:
Kathryn V. Dalrymple et al, The connection between digital antenatal care and being pregnant outcomes in a various UK inner-city inhabitants: a group-based trajectory modeling strategy utilizing routine well being data, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2025.08.004
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Digital antenatal care linked to poorer being pregnant outcomes (2025, October 17)
retrieved 17 October 2025
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