Objective: Telemedicine has advanced to the forefront of healthcare delivery, including maternal-fetal medicine. Smart wearable electrocardiogram (ECG) devices can enable pregnant women to monitor their health and that of their fetuses. Such technology would be a logical extension of the telemedicine ecosystem. However, it is not known how pregnant women perceive the ability to use such technologies. Design: Observational cross-sectional study. Setting: Online survey in the United States in 2019. Population: A representative sample of 507 women aged 18-45 were polled from 45 states. Methods: Study participants were recruited using the SurveyMonkey Audience Polling system and responded virtually. Main Outcome Measures: Women were asked to identify willingness to use a wearable ECG device the size of a patch-sized large band-aid on their abdomen. Ten binary or multiple-choice questions were used to gauge population interest and related demographics towards the usage of a wearable ECG device. Results: 91% of women expecting to become pregnant in the next five years accept wearable ECG technology as a mechanism for increased frequency of monitoring of maternal and fetal health throughout the pregnancy outside the hospital. 78% of women demonstrated a willingness to wear devices day and night or at least during sleep and 42% of women would spend up to $200 on such a device. Conclusions: Even though conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this study clearly indicates a high degree of readiness of prospective pregnant women for telemedicine with continuous health monitoring of the mother-fetus dyad during the entire antepartum period.
