Highlights
- •Research prioritisation helps to focus research resource towards population needs.
- •There is a broad spectrum of research priorities in maternal and perinatal health.
- •Most identified priorities relate to healthcare services, pregnancy and newborn health.
- •Most of research priorities were of global relevance.
- •Unexpectedly maternal mental health research priorities were infrequently identified.
Abstract
Objective
Research prioritisation helps to target research resources to the most pressing health
and healthcare needs of a population. This systematic review aimed to report research
priorities in maternal and perinatal health and to assess the methods that were used
to identify them.
Methods
A systematic review was undertaken. Projects that aimed to identify research priorities
that were considered to be amenable to clinical trials research were eligible for
inclusion. The search, limited to the last decade and publications in English, included
MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINHAL, relevant Cochrane priority lists, Cochrane Priority Setting
Methods Group homepage, James Lind Alliance homepage, Joanna Brigg’s register, PROSPERO
register, reference lists of all included articles, grey literature, and the websites
of relevant professional bodies, until 13 October 2020. The methods used for prioritisation
were appraised using the Reporting Guideline for Priority Setting of Health Research
(REPRISE).
Findings
From the 62 included projects, 757 research priorities of relevance to maternal and
perinatal health were identified. The most common priorities related to healthcare
systems and services, pregnancy care and complications, and newborn care and complications.
The least common priorities related to preconception and postpartum health, maternal
mental health, contraception and pregnancy termination, and fetal medicine and surveillance.
The most commonly used prioritisation methods were Delphi (20, 32%), Child Health
Nutrition Research Initiative (17, 27%) and the James Lind Alliance (10, 16%). The
fourteen projects (23%) that reported on at least 80% of the items included in the
REPRISE guideline all used an established research prioritisation method.
Conclusions
There are a large number of diverse research priorities in maternal and perinatal
health that are amenable to future clinical trials research. These have been identified
by a variety of research prioritisation methods.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 23, 2022
Accepted:
November 21,
2022
Received in revised form:
November 14,
2022
Received:
August 28,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
