BACKGROUND: Medical Information Technology may be understood as an interdisciplinary study of the conception, design, development, adoption and use of Information Technology (IT) innovations for healthcare provision, management and planning. Concerning the use of IT in reproductive health, the aim of the diverse range of currently available applications (apps) is to assist in family planning, antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum care, along with neonatal and infant healthcare. End users are healthcare workers or women. Studies evaluating the effectiveness of these solutions have demonstrated promising results reflecting adherence to healthcare services and recommendations, information on management and risk identification in pregnancy, improvement in women's satisfaction with healthcare received, in addition to financial benefits for the healthcare system.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present review was to identify main apps and software that are currently available in mHealth, designed for use by health professionals during antenatal care.
METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was conducted through a search for digital health solutions (mhealth/ehealth), apps and/or software, in publications after 2014, during antenatal care provision, in the Pubmed/Medline, Google Scholar databases and Google Play platform. Furthermore, relevant publications cited in bibliographic references of articles selected and unconventional sources (grey literature) were evaluated. Inclusion criteria for analysis of publications or tools were title or abstract descriptions of the following functions: use by health professionals during antenatal care provision, patient electronic record, integration of the app connecting the pregnant woman to the healthcare professional, clinical decision support system and use of mobile technology. The most recent article of duplicated information on apps or mobile health solutions was considered. Systematic review protocol (number CRD42017080501) was registered on PROSPERO in 2017.
RESULTS: A search in the Pubmed/Medline database produced 235 results between Jan 2014 and June 2018, 7840 publications in the Google Scholar database; 422 apps in Google Play. The first review of article abstracts and/or descriptors of products available resulted in the exclusion of 8483 sources of data, remaining 14 apps for detailed analysis. Of these, 5 were excluded for failing to meet inclusion criteria or lack of clarity or availability of sufficient data for inclusion.
CONCLUSION: The systematic review demonstrated that it is an arduous task to search for mobile digital solutions that meet the guidelines for clinical use during antenatal care. Although the apps analyzed have great potential for use in different contexts, the bulk of these software systems are unavailable for "prompt delivery", since the test version cannot be downloaded or access is restricted.
