Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30937164›Full record

ArticleJournal of global health2019

Viability of diagnostic decision support for antenatal care in rural settings: findings from the Bliss4Midwives Intervention in Northern Ghana.

Ibukun-Oluwa Omolade Abejirinde, Vincent De Brouwere, Jos van Roosmalen, Maurits van der Heiden, Norbert Apentibadek, Azucena Bardají, Marjolein Zweekhorst

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of global health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Informatics Interventions for Maternal Morbidity: Scoping Review.Interactive journal of medical research · 2025
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Ibukun-Oluwa Omolade AbejirindeAthena Institute, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Vincent De BrouwereInstitute of Tropical Medicine, Maternal and Reproductive Health Unit, Department of Public Health, Antwerp, Belgium.
Jos van RoosmalenAthena Institute, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Maurits van der Heidenthe Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Delft, the Netherlands.
Norbert ApentibadekAssociation of Church Development Projects (ACDEP), Northern Ghana.
Azucena BardajíISGlobal, Hospital Clínic - Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Marjolein ZweekhorstAthena Institute, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Universitat de Barcelona · ESVrije Universiteit Amsterdam · NLInstituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde · BENetherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAntenatal screening is useful for early identification and management of high-risk pregnancies. In low-resource settings, provision of the full complement of tests is limited and diagnostic referrals incure additional costs for pregnant women. We assessed the viability of Bliss4Midwives (B4M) - a point-of-care diagnostic decision support device for decentralized screening of pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and anaemia during antenatal care (ANC).

methodsThe device was piloted in seven health facilities across two districts in Northern Ghana over a ten-month period. Health workers were expected to screen women at each ANC visit till delivery. All screening records from the device were automatically archived digitally and later downloaded. After removing duplicates or invalid entries, descriptive quantitative analysis was carried out with IBM SPSS Statistics (version 23). B4M usage behavior, diagnostic and referral outcome were analyzed.

resultsHealth workers conducted 1323 partial or full antenatal screening on 940 women, resulting in decision support for 835 (88.8%) B4M beneficiaries. Diagnostic referral was eliminated for 708 (84.7%) beneficiaries, with 335 (40.1%) of these from facilities without on-site diagnostic alternatives. Of visits with complete data, 92/559 (16.4%) women were screened in their first trimester, 28/940 (2.9%) had 4+ B4M visits and 107/835 (12.8%) women were recommended for urgent referral to a higher-level facility on the first visit. Follow-up screenings flagged an additional 17 women for urgent referral with 10 cases of repeated alerts in five women. Wide variations between high (9 months use) and low adopting (1.5 months use) facilities were observed, with some similarities in usage trend.

conclusionsB4M helped decentralize ANC screening and decrease unnecessary referrals. Project outcomes were influenced by implementation strategy, technical features and behavioural dispositions of users and beneficiaries.

Indexed as

Decision Support TechniquesPrenatal CareRural Health ServicesAdolescentAdultFemaleGhanaHumansMass ScreeningPilot ProjectsPregnancyReproducibility of ResultsRisk Assessment

Identifiers

PMID30937164
PMCPMC6437754
OpenAlexW2913180118

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.