Author summary In an era where the number of pregnant women classified as high-risk is increasing, the demand for regular antenatal fetal monitoring has subsequently surged, which has increased the number of consultations in outpatient maternity services. Developments in digital technology has enabled devices, such as cardiotocography to be used in the home setting, which may alleviate the burden on the outpatient department. However, currently there is limited research which comprehensively examines the available literature on home CTG monitoring. Our review identified 39 papers, comprising of 7240 participants which incorporated a range of different study types and outcomes to be evaluated Meta-analysis of 16 maternal, perinatal and service-led outcomes demonstrated consistent non-inferiority when compared to conventional care across seven randomised controlled trials. However, high risk of bias, poor methodological quality and inconsistent results led to low or very low certainty of evidence using the GRADE approach. Narrative description of observational studies enabled a global assessment of the feasibility, diagnostic accuracy, clinical utility, qualitative and economic burden of home antenatal CTG monitoring. This review provides recommendations to shape future study design, whilst ensuring consistent outcome reporting, ultimately aiming to improve research quality for remote fetal monitoring technology interventions.
Results
The database and grey literature searches identified 7695 abstracts. A total of 3352 duplicate abstracts were removed, leaving 4343 abstracts for screening. A total of 175 full texts were reviewed, from which 39 papers (28 clinical observatio… [42840 chars]
Source: PLOS (Public Library of Science) | Published: 2026-01-12T00:00:00Z
Credit: PLOS (Public Library of Science)
