Feasibility of Telehealth and Innovative Technologies to Limit Excessive Gestational Weight Gain

Abstract

Objective: To test the feasibility of using telehealth to deliver nutritional counseling by tracking gestational weight gain remotely using Bluetooth weight scales.

Design: Quasi-experimental feasibility study.

Setting: One-on-one nutritional counseling was conducted remotely via a telehealth platform using a registered dietitian.

Participants: Twenty-nine pregnant individuals ages 18 years or older, between 12 and 27 weeks' gestation, with a prepregnancy body mass index of ≥30 kg/m², singleton fetus, and English proficiency were recruited for the study. Among the 29 potential participants, 20 completed the initial survey and met the criteria; 11 completed the study.

Methods: This study tested the feasibility of using telehealth to deliver nutritional counseling for 30 minutes, once a week, for 6 weeks. Self-weighing was tracked through a preconfigured Bluetooth scale given to study participants that enabled weight data to be automatically uploaded each time the scale was used.

Results: Among the 11 study participants receiving Bluetooth scales, adherence to self-weighing was high (81%). All five participants randomized to nutritional counseling found that telehealth visits with a registered dietitian were easy to use and helpful. Although participants who received nutritional counseling gained 2.5 lb less than those who did not receive nutritional counseling (p = .523), there was no significant difference between the intervention group and historical control individuals (p = .716).

Conclusion: Incorporating telehealth for nutrition counseling and accurate remote weight data collection may be part of a comprehensive strategy to address gestational weight gain in high-risk pregnant populations. Further research with larger samples is needed.

Keywords: BMI; body mass index; gestational weight gain; nutritional counseling; obesity; pregnancy; registered dietitian; self-monitoring; telehealth.