Randomized Clinical Trial to Increase Physical Activity After a a Hypertensive Pregnancy

Overview

STEPUP is a 12-week randomized clinical trial among 126 postpartum women with pregnancies complicated by hypertensive disorders. Participants will be randomized to a control arm and receive a Fitbit or an intervention arm. The intervention arm will receive a Fitbit and set a step count goal, receive daily feedback via text about whether they reached their goal, and will be placed in virtual teams with other participants where they can win points for their team if they meet their daily goals. The main study outcomes will be increase in mean step count and change in psychosocial survey measures.

Women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, such as preeclampsia and gestational hypertension, are at elevated risk of developing hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, and premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Current guidelines recommend intensive lifestyle modification for women with a history of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy in order to reduce the risk of developing cardiometabolic risk factors or overt CV disease. However, limited research exists to guide how to implement lifestyle modification for this population. The postpartum period poses unique challenges to adopting a healthy lifestyle. Remote interventions using mobile technology may be particularly effective. Social incentives designed using insights from behavioral economics have been demonstrated to motivate health behavior change, such as increasing physical activity. The objective of this study is to use a randomized clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a 12-week team-based, mobile health interventions using wearable devices and social incentives to increase physical activity in the postpartum period.