SOMANZ Poster Presentation Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society and Society of Obstetric Medicine Australia and New Zealand Joint Scientific Meeting 2025

Evaluation of a telephone based lifestyle intervention after hypertensive pregnancy a BP2 sub-study (#161)

Isobel Funnell 1 , Megan Gow 2 3 4 , Lynne Roberts 2 5 , Amanda Henry 1 2 3
  1. Discipline of Women’s Health, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Women's and Children's Health, St George Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. School of Population Health, UNSW Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. St George and Sutherland Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Background/Objectives:

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are associated with increased long-term cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, intervention studies to reduce CVD risk in post-HDP women are limited. This study primarily aimed to explore the acceptability of a phone-based health-coaching service for these women. Secondary aims included investigating correlations between program participation and cardiovascular measures.

Methods:

Sub-study of the Blood Pressure Postpartum (BP2) trial, a multicentre, three-armed randomised controlled trial of post-HDP lifestyle behaviour change (LBC) interventions, from 6- to 12-months postpartum. Groups were: 1) optimised usual care; 2) brief education; 3) extended lifestyle intervention. Group 3 were referred to the Get Healthy Service (GHS), a 6-month telephone-based LBC program. Initiation, engagement (≥1 GHS call), and program completion (10 phone-calls or achieving LBC goal) were assessed, alongside blood pressure (BP), weight and waist circumference at 6- and 12-months postpartum in GHS-referred versus non-referred, and GHS completed versus non-completed participants.

Results:

In total, 143 women were GHS referred (Group 3 n=139, n=4 self-referral). Forty-four (31%) completed the program. Engaged participants (n=107, 75%) averaged 5.7±3.5 calls. There were no differences between GHS-referred versus non-referred participants for weight (-0.9kg [-3.1-1.2] versus -0.4kg [-2.6-1.7], p=0.13), waist circumference (-1.6±7.5cm versus -0.3±8.9cm, p=0.15) or systolic BP (-2.5±12.2mmHg versus -1.6±10.4, p=0.44) change from 6- to 12-months postpartum. This was also true for GHS completed versus non-completed participants.

Conclusions:

A minority of GHS-allocated participants completed the program. Neither GHS participation or engagement markedly influenced systolic BP, weight or waist circumference. Further research is required to determine beneficial post-HDP interventions.