Digital Transformation of Maternal Healthcare in Saudi Arabia: Tele-Obstetrics, Remote Pregnancy Monitoring and Smart Clinical Decision Support
Abstract
Digital transformation is reshaping maternal healthcare by extending clinical observation beyond conventional hospital visits and enabling continuous, data-supported relationships between pregnant women and healthcare professionals. Tele-obstetrics, remote pregnancy monitoring, wearable technologies, mobile health applications, artificial intelligence (AI), and clinical decision-support systems offer opportunities to improve accessibility, early risk recognition, continuity of care, and maternal safety. This review evaluates recent evidence on digital approaches to maternal healthcare and examines their relevance to Saudi Arabia. A structured review of peer-reviewed literature published primarily between 2020 and 2025 was conducted, with particular attention to telehealth in high-risk pregnancy, remote blood-pressure monitoring, gestational-diabetes management, wearable maternal and fetal sensors, AI-based pregnancy risk prediction, and clinical decision support. Evidence indicates that telehealth can reduce unnecessary face-to-face visits while maintaining maternal and neonatal outcomes in appropriately selected pregnancies. Remote blood-pressure monitoring can improve surveillance of hypertensive disorders and postpartum follow-up, while mobile health technologies can support glucose monitoring and self-management in gestational diabetes. AI-assisted clinical decision-support systems demonstrate potential for predicting complications and prioritizing high-risk patients, although external validation, bias, explainability, data privacy, and clinical integration remain significant challenges. Saudi Arabia provides a particularly favorable environment for digitally enabled maternity care because healthcare transformation under Vision 2030 increasingly emphasizes virtual care, prevention, integrated health records, artificial intelligence, and equitable access to specialized services. An integrated model combining remote monitoring, tele-obstetric consultation, electronic maternal records, automated alerts, and clinician-led decision-making could strengthen maternity services while maintaining patient safety and professional accountability.