title: Remote Monitoring of Hypertension Diseases in Pregnancy: A Pilot Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although remote monitoring (RM) has proven its added value in various health care domains, little is known about the remote follow-up of pregnant women diagnosed with a gestational hypertensive disorders (GHD).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the added value of a remote follow-up program for pregnant women diagnosed with GHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 1-year retrospective study was performed in the outpatient clinic of a 2nd level prenatal center where pregnant women with GHD received RM or conventional care (CC). Primary study endpoints include number of prenatal visits and admissions to the prenatal observation ward. Secondary outcomes include gestational outcome, mode of delivery, neonatal outcome, and admission to neonatal intensive care (NIC). Differences in continuous and categorical variables in maternal demographics and characteristics were tested using Unpaired Student's two sampled t test or Mann-Whitney U test and the chi-square test. Both a univariate and multivariate analysis were performed for analyzing prenatal follow-up and gestational outcomes. All statistical analyses were done at nominal level, Cronbach alpha=.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 166 patients diagnosed with GHD, 53 received RM and 113 CC. After excluding 5 patients in the RM group and 15 in the CC group because of the missing data, 48 patients in RM group and 98 in CC group were taken into final analysis. The RM group had more women diagnosed with gestational hypertension, but less with preeclampsia when compared with CC (81.25% vs 42.86% and 14.58% vs 43.87%). Compared with CC, univariate analysis in RM showed less induction, more spontaneous labors, and less maternal and neonatal hospitalizations (48.98% vs 25.00%; 31.63% vs 60.42%; 74.49% vs 56.25%; and 27.55% vs 10.42%). This was also true in multivariate analysis, except for hospitalizations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An RM follow-up of women with GHD is a promising tool in the prenatal care. It opens the perspectives to reverse the current evolution of antenatal interventions leading to more interventions and as such to ever increasing medicalized antenatal care.
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.|Department of Gynaecology, Ziekenhuis Oost Limburg, Genk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dorien
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2442-656X
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lanssens
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Thijs
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4956-0872
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vandenberk
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Christophe Jp
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1746-7585
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Smeets
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7681-3011
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: De Cannière
authors.affiliation: Interuniversity Institute for Biostatics and Statistical Bioinformatics, Hasselt University & KULeuven, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Geert
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6453-5448
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Molenberghs
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3458-2809
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Moerbeke
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6622-2106
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van den Hoogen
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5877-5031
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Robijns
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology, Ziekenhuis Oost Limburg, Genk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sharona
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2522-4508
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vonck
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology, Ziekenhuis Oost Limburg, Genk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anneleen
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8453-8208
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Staelens
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9344-0248
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Storms
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.|Future Health Department, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Genk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Inge M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9713-8721
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Thijs
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5452-6137
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grieten
authors.affiliation: Mobile Health Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.|Department of Gynaecology, Ziekenhuis Oost Limburg, Genk, Belgium.|Department of Physiology, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Wilfried
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5778-434X
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gyselaers
keywords: eHealth; gestational hypertension disorders; pregnancy; remote monitoring