Mindfetalness to Improve Pregnancy Outcome

Sophiahemmet University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pregnancy Outcomes

Treatments: Behavioral: Mindfetalness

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02865759

2016-2

Details and patient eligibility

About

To improve pregnancy outcome, 39 000 pregnant women will be randomized to receive information about Mindfetalness or to routine care. The level of randomization will be the antenatal clinics in the Stockholm area.

Full description

The investigators have randomized 33 antenatal clinics in Stockholm to the intervention (receiving information about Mindfetalness) and 30 to routine care. The randomization was performed in blocks according to varying yearly volumes of pregnant women and socio-economic residential area. Three small clinics, with a total of 85 women listed in 2015, were not randomized. Another four clinics, receiving referrals of women with need for specialized care, were not randomized either. The recruitment is restricted to the 63 randomized clinics. In a pilot study in one antenatal clinic, the intervention has been tested among 102 women. A run-in period will start at high-volume antenatal clinics 1 September 2016, one month before the investigators start to register the women that will be observed for pregnancy outcome. All information, including that of possible effect-modifying and possible confounding factors, will be fetched from population-based registers and linked by the personal identify number unique for each resident in Sweden. The Swedish Medical Birth Register, Obstetrix, the Swedish Educational Register, the Prescribed Drug Register and the National Patient Register provide the information. By this design, and the analyses according to the intention-to treat principle, attrition and differential misclassification of outcome becomes negligible. Non-differential misclassification of the predictor (Mindfetalness or no Mindfetalness) will be substantial, diluting the effect estimates. This dilution may be compensated by the large size of the trial. Since the unit of randomization is the antenatal clinics residual confounding is an issue. The investigators will have, however, information on important possible confounding factors, including educational level, age, parity, body mass index, country of birth, diabetes mellitus before the pregnancy, certain other pre-pregnancy diseases, previous stillbirth, gestational diabetes mellitus and preeclampsia.

An article describing the study protocol has been published. A pilot study testing complicance of mindfetalness has been published. Data concerning outcome (all recruited women are followed from gestational week 32+0 until delivery) will be exported from the pregnancy register during October 2018.

Enrollment: 39,000 patients

Sex: Female

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Pregnant woman with a fetus being at least 25 weeks old (gestational age)
• Having a Swedish personal identity number

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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39,000 participants in 2 patient groups

Mindfetalness

Experimental group

Description:

The pregnant woman will be informed about the possibility of practicing Mindfetalness verbally, in a brochure and at a website. The practice is described as spending 15 minutes every day from gestational week 28 to get to know the fetal movement pattern. The fetus must be awake when she practice Mindfetalness and the woman is suggested to lay on her left side when she observe the fetal movements. In the brochure as well at the website the woman can write down something about the nature, frequency or strength of the fetal movements. If the woman experiences decreased frequency of fetal movements or weaker movements she is instructed to seek health-care without unnecessary delay.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfetalness

Routine Care

No Intervention group

Description:

No activities will take place in the antenatal clinics randomized to routine care.