Radin Jennifer M, Peters Shaquille, Ariniello Lauren, Wongvibulsin Shannon, Galarnyk Michael, Waalen Jill, Steinhubl Steven R
Scripps Research Translational Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
J Clin Transl Sci. 2020 Apr 6;4(5):457-462. doi: 10.1017/cts.2020.33.
Pregnant women living in rural locations in the USA have higher rates of maternal and infant mortality compared to their urban counterparts. One factor contributing to this disparity may be lack of representation of rural women in traditional clinical research studies of pregnancy. Barriers to participation often include transportation to research facilities, which are typically located in urban centers, childcare, and inability to participate during nonwork hours.
POWERMOM is a digital research app which allows participants to share both survey and sensor data during their pregnancy. Through non-targeted, national outreach a study population of 3612 participants (591 from rural zip codes and 3021 from urban zip codes) have been enrolled so far in the study, beginning on March 16, 2017, through September 20, 2019.
On average rural participants in our study were younger, had higher pre-pregnancy weights, were less racially diverse, and were more likely to plan a home birth compared to the urban participants. Both groups showed similar engagement in terms of week of pregnancy when they joined, percentage of surveys completed, and completion of the outcome survey after they delivered their baby. However, rural participants shared less HealthKit or sensor data compared to urban participants.
Our study demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of enrolling pregnant women living in rural zip codes using a digital research study embedded within a popular pregnancy app. Future efforts to conduct remote digital research studies could help fill representation and knowledge gaps related to pregnant women.
与美国城市地区的孕妇相比，居住在农村地区的孕妇母婴死亡率更高。造成这种差异的一个因素可能是农村女性在传统的孕期临床研究中缺乏代表性。参与研究的障碍通常包括前往位于城市中心的研究机构的交通问题、儿童保育问题以及无法在非工作时间参与研究。
POWERMOM是一款数字研究应用程序，允许参与者在孕期分享调查和传感器数据。从2017年3月16日至2019年9月20日，通过非针对性的全国性宣传，该研究迄今已招募了3612名参与者（591名来自农村邮政编码地区，3021名来自城市邮政编码地区）。
与城市参与者相比，我们研究中的农村参与者平均年龄更小，孕前体重更高，种族多样性更低，且更有可能计划在家分娩。两组在加入研究时的孕周、完成调查的百分比以及分娩后完成结局调查方面表现出相似的参与度。然而，与城市参与者相比，农村参与者分享的健康工具包或传感器数据更少。
我们的研究证明了使用一款流行的孕期应用程序中嵌入的数字研究来招募居住在农村邮政编码地区的孕妇的可行性和有效性。未来开展远程数字研究的努力可能有助于填补与孕妇相关的代表性和知识空白。
