Personalized mobile health coaching offers new approach to preventing gestational diabetes in high-risk pregnancies

A recent study published in the Lancet Digital Health has found that a personalized mobile health (mHealth) coaching program can significantly reduce the incidence of gestational diabetes among high-risk pregnant women, regardless of changes in maternal weight. The Bump2Baby and Me (B2B&Me) study, led by Professor Sharleen O Reilly from University College Dublin's School of Agriculture and Food Science, evaluated the efficacy of a smartphone-delivered intervention spanning early pregnancy through 12 months postpartum.

The multicenter randomized controlled trial, conducted across Ireland, the U.K., Spain, and Australia, is the first of its scale to provide continuous digital health intervention during both pregnancy and postpartum periods. The study found no difference in average maternal BMI at 12 months postpartum between the two groups, but the group receiving personalized mHealth coaching experienced a clinically important reduction in the number of women who developed gestational diabetes.

The findings suggest that gestational diabetes prevention and improvements in metabolic health can be achieved without corresponding weight change, highlighting the potential of mHealth technology to deliver real-time support to women when and where they need it most, extending preventive care into the vital first year postpartum.

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