Blimey! UK study finds AI improves maternity care outcomes

A meta-analysis of research from the UK found that women are more likely to receive better care during pregnancy when AI and clinical software tools are used in maternity settings. Published in eClinicalMedicine, the study examined over 12,000 research papers and reviewed 87 articles, analyzing various AI and Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS). The meta-analysis, which included data from over 5.2 million pregnancies across both high- and low-income countries, found that using these tools increased the odds of improved pregnancy outcomes by 1.69 times.

For U.S. doctors, this adds weight to the growing interest in digital transformation within health care, particularly as the use of AI tools like CDSS becomes more common. In the UK, the government has made digital transformation of the National Health Service (NHS) a priority to improve care and reduce costs, and CDSS is expected to play a key role.

Neil Cockburn, a Health Informatics Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham and the study’s lead author, emphasized the pressure on maternity services globally. “Maternity services are under huge pressure in the UK and internationally, and that makes it challenging to offer safe services,” he said in a statement. “One solution is the use of AI and related software tools...to help expecting families and health care workers make safe decisions.”

The study reviewed CDSS tools used in 49 high-income and 38 low- and middle-income countries, revealing that although outcomes varied, most implementations showed improvements in maternity care. For example, a trial at Bristol University supported women in deciding whether to attempt a vaginal birth after a cesarean, reducing overall c-section rates. Another study involving a risk-prediction model for ectopic pregnancy, supported by Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research, demonstrated how CDSS can improve triage and safety in high-risk situations.

The study underscored the importance of context-specific implementation of these systems. It is the first of its kind to systematically review CDSS tools in maternity care, offering insights that could guide clinicians, developers, and researchers in the U.S. as they explore the use of AI to improve maternal and fetal outcomes. This could mark a significant step toward reducing maternal and infant mortality rates in the U.S., where these rates remain higher than in many other developed countries.