OMEGA Study - Healthy Pregnant Adults

STUDY BASICS

Are you an adult between 18 and 45 years of age in your third trimester of pregnancy? You may be able to participate in a study to help us develop the next generation of non-invasive fetal health monitoring. We will ask you to perform some simple exercises while we measure from multiple sensors on your abdomen.

STUDY PURPOSE

This research is part of the Optical, Mechanical, and Electrical Global Assessment (OMEGA) project for improved detection of fetal hypoxia (low oxygen in the fetus.) The purpose of this study is to evaluate multiple types of sensors for monitoring the health of a fetus. We will evaluate the quality of the recordings and test how practical they are to use. In the future, this research will help us develop the OMEGA system for better monitoring of fetal health during labor and delivery, which could improve birth outcomes and decrease un-needed C-sections.

COULD THIS STUDY BE RIGHT FOR YOU?

• Between 18 and 45 years of age 

• Singleton pregnancy in the third trimester (at least 28 weeks) 

• Must be receiving regular outpatient prenatal care 

• BMI approximately 18.5–50 

• Able to stand and walk on your own, and perform study tasks safely 

• No known obstetric complications with this pregnancy 

• No implanted electronic devices 

• No tattoos on locations the sensor will go (as judged by the study staff)

WHAT PARTICIPANTS CAN EXPECT

This study involves one visit to CMU's Pittsburgh campus, lasting up to 2 hours. We will put multiple non-invasive sensors on your abdomen to measure things like fetal heart rate, fetal brain activity, map your abdominal muscle activity, and do ultrasound imaging. We will ask you to perform some simple exercises like breathing at a regular pace, squeezing your abdominal muscles, and moving between sitting and standing, while we take these recordings.  We may also place a sound-transducer on your abdomen to measure the response in your fetus’s brain to sounds.