@Article{info:doi/10.2196/12417,
author="Saarikko, Johanna
and Niela-Vilen, Hannakaisa
and Ekholm, Eeva
and Hamari, Lotta
and Azimi, Iman
and Liljeberg, Pasi
and Rahmani, Amir M
and L{\"o}yttyniemi, Eliisa
and Axelin, Anna",
title="Continuous 7-Month Internet of Things--Based Monitoring of Health Parameters of Pregnant and Postpartum Women: Prospective Observational Feasibility Study",
journal="JMIR Form Res",
year="2020",
month="Jul",
day="24",
volume="4",
number="7",
pages="e12417",
keywords="prenatal care; postnatal care; wearable electronics; biosensing; cloud computing; mHealth; physical activity; sleep; heart rate",
abstract="Background: Monitoring during pregnancy is vital to ensure the mother's and infant's health. Remote 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 may thus partially replace traditional appointments. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of continuously monitoring the health parameters (physical activity, sleep, and heart rate) of nulliparous women throughout pregnancy and until 1 month postpartum, with a smart wristband and an Internet of Things (IoT)--based monitoring system. Methods: This prospective observational feasibility study used 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 was performed with a smart wristband for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week over 7 months (6 months during pregnancy and 1 month postpartum). The smart wristband was connected to a cloud server. The total number of possible monitoring days during pregnancy weeks 13 to 42 was 203 days and 28 days in the postpartum period. Results: Valid physical activity data were available for a median of 144 (range 13-188) days (75{\%} of possible monitoring days), and valid sleep data were available for a median of 137 (range 0-184) days (72{\%} of possible monitoring days) per participant during pregnancy. During the postpartum period, a median of 15 (range 0-25) days (54{\%} of possible monitoring days) of valid physical activity data and 16 (range 0-27) days (57{\%} of possible monitoring days) of valid sleep data were available. Physical activity decreased from the second trimester to the third trimester by a mean of 1793 (95{\%} CI 1039-2548) steps per day (P<.001). The decrease continued by a mean of 1339 (95{\%} CI 474-2205) steps to the postpartum period (P=.004). Sleep during pregnancy also decreased from the second trimester to the third trimester by a mean of 20 minutes (95{\%} CI --0.7 to 42 minutes; P=.06) and sleep time shortened an additional 1 hour (95{\%} CI 39 minutes to 1.5 hours) after delivery (P<.001). The mean resting heart rate increased toward the third trimester and returned to the early pregnancy level during the postpartum period. Conclusions: The smart wristband with IoT technology was a feasible system for collecting representative data on continuous variables of health parameters during pregnancy. Continuous monitoring provides real-time information between scheduled appointments and thus may help target and tailor pregnancy follow-up. ",
issn="2561-326X",
doi="10.2196/12417",
url="http://formative.jmir.org/2020/7/e12417/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/12417",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32706696"
}