Pregnant women in the US who were offered some of their prenatal appointments by audio-only telehealth during the pandemic attended more of them than patients offered only in-person visits the year before, a study shows.

Moreover, the analysis of data from more than 12,000 patients revealed no negative impact on perinatal outcomes from using the virtual visits, according to the report published in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers compared perinatal outcomes of 6559 patients who delivered between 1 May and 31 October 2019, and received only in-person prenatal visits, with 6048 women who delivered between 1 May and 31 October 2020, when audio-only virtual visits were integrated into prenatal care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The characteristics of the women in the two cohorts were similar, the authors from UT Southwestern Medical Centre and Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas, Texas, reported.