Historically fetal movements have been used to diagnose pregnancy and indicate fetal life. Conversely, reduced fetal movements (RFM) or an absence of fetal movements for an extended period of time is considered an indicator of increased risk of fetal compromise and has been associated with an increased incidence of intrauterine fetal death and fetal growth restriction. In recent years there has been a renewed interest in the topic of fetal movements in pregnancy, with numerous studies on aspects of both the detection and management of RFM in pregnancy appearing in the literature, including associated calls for larger randomised trials. Current systematic reviews and meta-analysis have highlighted problems with the quality of studies and their heterogeneity. Developing a COS for use in future trials on the topic of RFM in pregnancy is both timely and needed.
ContributorsDexter Hayes, PhD candidate, School of Medical Sciences, Division of Departmental Biology and Medicine, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester.
Professor Valerie Smith
Professor in Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin
Professor Declan Devane
Professor of Midwifery, NUI Galway/Director, HRB-Trials Methodology Research network, NUIG, Ireland
Dr Alexander Heazell
Senior Clinical Lecturer in Obstetrics
5th floor (Research)
St Mary's Hospital, Oxford Road,
Manchester, M13 9WL, UK
Disease Category: Pregnancy & childbirth
Disease Name: Reduced fetal movements, Stillbirth
Age Range: 13 - 50
Sex: Female
Nature of Intervention: N/A
- Clinical experts
- Researchers
- Service users
- COS for clinical trials or clinical research
- Consensus meeting
- Delphi process
- Systematic review
• Systematic review to identify reported outcome measures in clinical trials on i) interventions for the detection and ii) management of RFM in pregnancy; ?
• E-Delphi survey to develop a preliminary COS for use in studies on RFM in pregnancy;
• Consensus meeting to discuss and agree on the final RFM-COS.