Pregnancy and Chronic Disease: The Effect of a Midwife-coordinated Maternity Care Intervention
Condition: Chronic Diseases in Pregnancy
MeSH terms: Chronic Disease
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The number of pregnant women affected by chronic diseases such as epilepsy, hypertension and
      thyroid disease is rising, and in the Danish population 15 % of all pregnant women had a
      chronic disease in 2016. Chronic disease increase the risk of complications during pregnancy
      such as preterm birth and caesarian section, while children born of mothers with chronic
      disease have an increased risk of low birthweight, prematurity and birth effects. Moreover,
      pregnant women with chronic disease have an increased risk of post-natal depression and
      report higher rates of anxiety during pregnancy and have described dissatisfaction with the
      communication with care providers about issues such as breastfeeding, lack of coherence
      during the course of pregnancy and after delivery.

      The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of an increased, interdisciplinary,
      coordinated and specialized maternity care multimodal intervention for pregnant women with
      chronic disease on the length of hospitalization (during pregnancy and after delivery).
      Secondarily, the purpose is to examine the effect of the intervention on psychological
      well-being and patient satisfaction.

      The investigators hypothesis is that the delivery of an increased interdisciplinary,
      coordinated and specialized intervention targeted pregnant women with pre-existing chronic
      disease will be beneficial for this group of pregnant women's' length of hospitalization
      during pregnancy and after delivery due to improved maternity care and improved self-care.
      Also, the investigators hypothesize that the effect of the intervention will be improved
      psychological well-being and satisfaction with care during pregnancy and after delivery.
    

Detailed description: 
      Pregnant women with chronic disease such as epilepsy, sclerosis, hypertension, and thyroid
      disorders have a significant increased risk of pregnancy complications such as spontaneous
      abortion, preterm delivery, and caesarian section. Children born by mothers affected by
      chronic disease have a higher risk of low birthweight, prematurity and birth defects.
      Moreover women affected by chronic disease have a higher incidence of post-natal depression
      than women with no history of chronic disease.

      Previous studies have found that pregnant some women with chronic disease experienced a lack
      of continuity in the maternity care: they felt that their different care providers were
      giving contradictory information on issues such as mode of delivery, breastfeeding and
      medications. This lack of continuity led to dissatisfaction with care and insecurity with
      decision-making.

      Previous studies that evaluate maternity care interventions, have shown that the elements of
      the interventions that have a positive effect on pregnancy outcomes such as lowering
      pregnancy and birth complications, health costs and patient satisfaction are: increased
      care-coordination, continuity of care providers, specially trained care providers (e.g.
      nurses and midwives), specialized teams, focus on transitions from e.g. one care setting to
      another and individualized women-centered care.

      However, none of these studies have been targeted pregnant women with chronic disease and how
      to optimize their course of maternity care. Moreover, systematic reviews point out that
      studies that examine the effect of the interventions on patient satisfaction, health costs
      and psychological well-being.

      On this background, the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of a
      midwife-coordinated individualized and specialized maternity care intervention for pregnant
      women with chronic disease on the length of hospitalization (during pregnancy and after
      delivery). Secondarily, the purpose is to examine the effect of the intervention on
      psychological well-being and patient satisfaction.

      Patient enrollment The patients will be recruited from the Department of Obstetrics,
      Rigshospitalet, Denmark from October 2018 to February 2020. Participants will be selected on
      the basis of 1) the journal information provided from the women's general practitioner and 2)
      an electronic questionnaire that all pregnant women at Rigshospitalet are sent by e-mail and
      more than 90% return before 10 weeks of gestation. The information from the questionnaire is
      routinely transferred to the women's medical journals. Potential participants receive patient
      information about the study at around week 9-17 of gestation depending on how early the
      hospital, receive the information about the pregnancy.

      The first contact to the patient will be by phone between 12-18 weeks of gestation as a part
      of the standard care when a midwife from the visitation will call the woman with information
      about shedueled appointments and programme for high-risk pregnancies at the department. The
      midwife will ask if information about the study can be sent til the woman and if a research
      midwife is allowed to follow up on this information with a phone call within a week. If the
      woman agree, a research midwife will phone the woman within a week and ask if she wants more
      information about the study and if she wants to participate. If so the woman is given the
      information and offered the choice between a personal meeting or information over the phone
      about the study and participation. If the woman agerrs to participate informed concent is
      obtained, and randomization is performed by a specially designed computer programme.

      Data collection. All participants complete an electronic baseline questionnaire after
      informed consent is obtained and before randomization. All data from the electronically
      distributed questionnaires are stored in a secured database.

      Questionnaire number two (33-37 weeks of gestation) and questionnaire three (two months after
      delivery) will be sent to the participants by e-mail and the returned questionnaires will be
      stored in a secured database.

      Other data will be obtained from patient records.

      Sample size calculation

      A total of 258 women will be enrolled in the study. The sample size was determined using
      unpublished data on 426 pregnant women with chronic diseases hospitalized at Rigshospitalet
      during pregnancy and in the post-partum period in 2017. The average length of hospital stay
      (LOS) during pregnancy was 3.9 days; however, due to a right-skewed distribution,
      log-transformed LOS was used as the outcome for the sample size calculation. Therefore, the
      effect of the intervention is expressed as a ratio. We expect a reduction of 25% in LOS in
      the intervention group compared to the control group. This corresponds approximately to a
      mean reduction of 1 day of hospitalization and to an improvement of log (1-0.25) = -0.29 on
      the log scale, which we consider a realistic and clinically significant effect size. The SD
      of number of days in hospital on log scale was 0.80. With a difference of 0.29, SD = 0.80, a
      power of 0.8 and a significance level of 0.05, an analysis by the two-sample t-test requires
      123 women in each group. We expect a maximum of 5% to be lost to follow-up, leading to a
      total of 129 women needing to be enrolled in each group.

      Analysis plan

      Analyses are to be performed based on the intention-to-treat principle. The log-transformed
      number of days in hospital in the two groups will be compared in the primary unadjusted
      analysis and in a secondary analysis, adjustments will be made for parity and age. Analysis
      will be performed using the general linear model unless we find a generalized linear model
      (e.g. Poisson or negative binomial) to fit the distribution of the number of days in
      hospital. Furthermore, the two groups will be compared with respect to the proportion of
      women with three or fewer days in hospital. Comparison of secondary and exploratory outcomes
      will similarly be performed using the general or generalized linear models as appropriate. In
      case of an uneven allocation of pregnancies with congenital malformations or chromosomal
      abnormalities to the two groups, analyses will be performed in the sub group of women without
      pregnancies with congenital malformations or chromosomal abnormalities.
    

Intervention name(s): ChroPreg + standard care
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Ongoing update of individual maternity care plan.
Extra consultation with the specialized midwife at 20-24 weeks of pregnancy about psychological well-being during pregnancy.
Extra consultation with the specialized midwife at 30-33 weeks of pregnancy about individual birth preparation, breastfeeding and post-partum care.
Possibility for psychologist consultation.
Post-partum: Telephone follow-up by the specialized midwife 1 and 2 weeks after discharge.
Postnatal follow-up: 4-6 weeks after delivery: conversation with specialized midwife about the pregnancy and birth.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Intervention Group and Control group
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: pregnancy; maternity Care; complex intervention; interdisiplinary team; chronic disease; interdisciplinary; midwifery