Reduced-visit antenatal care model combined with telemedicine for low-risk pregnant women: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Introduction Antenatal care (ANC) is a critical measure to reduce maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. However, there are issues of too many visits and cumbersome procedures of ANC in many maternity hospitals of China. In the past 2 years, reduced-visit ANC models combined with remote monitoring have been recommended and implemented at most hospitals in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, due to limited evaluations of the cost-effectiveness, policy-makers remain confused on how to appropriately integrate online delivery strategies with routine models to improve ANC quality and efficiency sustainably at scale. This trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness, acceptability and cost of a reduced-visit ANC model combined with telemedicine. Methods and analysis A single-blind, randomised controlled trial will be conducted among low-risk pregnant women at Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing. 1476 patients (738 in each group) would be required, and they will be randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive the reduced-visit ANC combined with telemedicine services or the routine ANC. The primary outcome is the composite rate of adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes which will be extracted from the medical records. Secondary outcomes include acceptability of ANC models, which is assessed by satisfaction with ANC, pregnancy-related stress and ANC costs measured from the perspectives of both service providers and demanders. Both intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses will be performed. Non-inferiority tests will be used to compare the two ANC models for the primary outcome. A cost-effectiveness analysis comparing the two ANC models will be conducted by estimating the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by the ethical review committee of the Peking University Third Hospital (Beijing, China). The results of this study will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and presented at relevant academic conferences. Trial registration number NCT05290467.