CClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT07077109NIEM-SUpdated Jul 28, 2025

Feasibility Study: Continuous Fetal Monitoring During Maternal Exercise

An interventional study of Electrophysiological monitoring in Pregnancy and Monitoring, sponsored by Maxima Medical Center. Not yet recruiting. Open to female participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-07-28.

Sponsored by Maxima Medical Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
15
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

This feasibility study will be the first study to assess the feasibility of continuous electrophysiological monitoring during maternal exercise in women with an uncomplicated pregnancy. This may help to better understand fetal condition during exercise and offer personalised exercise recommendations in the future. In future, validating the feasibility and safety of exercise could promote greater exercise engagement among pregnant women and increase fetal wellbeiing.

Read the detailed description

The Nemo Fetal Monitoring Sytem (Nemo Healthcare B.V., Veldhoven, the Netherlands) will be used for electrophysiological monitoring.

02

Conditions studied

  • Pregnancy
  • Monitoring

Keywords

  • Electrophysiological monitoring
  • Pregnancy
  • Sport
  • Feasibility study
  • Maternal exercise
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Minimal age of 18 years old
  • Pregnant women with an uncomplicated singleton pregnancy and a gestational age between 30+0 and 40+0 weeks and days
  • Oral and written informed consent is obtained
  • Engage in aerobic exercise during pregnancy

A potential subject who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study:

  • Insufficient knowledge of Dutch or English language
  • Women with a multiple pregnancy
  • Contra-indications for the Nemo Fetal Monitoring System (NFMS):

    • Fetal and/or maternal cardiac arrhythmias
    • Contraindications to abdominal placement (dermatologic diseases of the abdomen precluding preparation of the abdomen with abrasive paper)
    • Women connected to an external or implanted electrical stimulator, such as a pacemaker (because of disturbance of the electrophysiological signal)
  • Fetus with known congenital or chromosomal abnormalities
  • Women with absolute or relative contraindications to aerobic exercise during pregnancy at time of inclusions and during maternal exercise:

    • Mild or severe respiratory diseases (e.g. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, restrictive lung disease and cystic fibrosis)
    • Mild or severe acquired or congenital heart disease with exercise intolerance
    • Uncontrolled or severe arrhythmia
    • Vasa previa
    • Type 1 diabetes
    • IUGR
    • Severe PE
    • Cervical insufficiency
  • Women with relative contraindications to aerobic exercise during pregnancy:

    • Mild respiratory disorders
    • Mild congenital or acquired heart disease
    • Well-controlled type 1 diabetes
    • Pre-eclampsia
    • Cervical insufficiency
    • Placenta previa
    • Untreated thyroid disease
    • Symptomatic, severe eating disorder
    • Multiple nutrient deficiencies and/or chronic undernutrition
    • Moderate-heavy smoking (> 20 cigarettes per day)
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
15 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Electrophysiological monitoring

    See intervention

    Device: Electrophysiological monitoring

Interventions

  • DeviceElectrophysiological monitoring

    electrofysiological CTG monitoring with the Nemo Fetal Monitoring System (Nemo Healthcare B.V., Veldhoven, the Netherlands). The NFMS consists of a wireless and beltless electrode patch on the maternal abdomen. It monitors fetal heart rate by fetal electrocardiography, maternal heart rate by maternal electrocardiography and the electrical activity of the uterine muscle by electrohysterography.

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Success rate of continuous electrophysiolgoical monitoring during maternal exercise

    Defined as the percentage of time during continuous maternal exercise with concurrent signal output of the fetal heart rate. Continous electrophysiological monitoring is feasible by a successrate of =\>80%

    Time frame: 15 minutes (min) before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

Secondary outcomes

  1. Maternal heartrate

    Mean maternal heart rate in beats per minutes (bpm) from cardiotocogram

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  2. Mean maternal heartrate

    Mean maternal heart rate in bpm from cardiotocographic output

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  3. Fetal heart rate variability

    Fetal heart rate variability from cardiotocogram, measured as average short term variability and average long term variability

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during, 15 min after exercise

  4. Fetal heart rate

    Mean fetal heart rate in bpm from cardiotocogram

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  5. Contraction frequency

    Mean contraction freqency from cardiotocogram, defined as the number of contractions per 10 minutes.

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  6. Contraction duration

    Mean contraction duration in seconds from cardiotocogram

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  7. Contraction intensity

    Mean maximum contraction intensity (i.e. amplitude) from cardiotocogram (in arbitrary units)

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  8. Contraction interval

    Mean contraction interval in seconds, from cardiotocogram

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  9. Accelerations

    Increase in the fetal heart rate above the baseline lasting 10-120 seconds and reaching a peak of at least 10 seconds, from cardiotocogram

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  10. Decelerations

    Decrease in fetal heart rate under the baseline lasting at 15 seconds, and with a minimum amplitude of 15 seconds, from cardiotocogram.

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  11. Signal loss

    Percentage of fetal heart rate signals values under 35bpm, from cardiotocogram

    Time frame: 15 min before, 30 min during and 15 min after maternal exercise

  12. Maternal satisfaction of continuous fetal monitoring and tolerability of the patch during exercise

    Maternal satisfaction by selfmade questionnaire

    Time frame: Directly after exercise (duration to complete: 10 min)

06

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

07

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — All IPD that underlie results in a publication

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07077109
Lead sponsor
Maxima Medical Center
Responsible party
Phebe Berben (Medical doctor, PhD Candidate, Coordinating Investigator NIEM-S study, Maxima Medical Center) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jul 22, 2025
Start date
Oct 15, 2025 (estimated)
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Mar 13, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 28, 2025

Study contacts

Phebe Berben, Medical Doctor, PhD Candidate
Contact
phebe.berben@mmc.nl
+3140 - 888 80
Simone Goossens, PhD
principal investigator · Principal Investigator

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Jul 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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