How effective are digital interventions in increasing flu vaccination among pregnant women? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Flu can have serious consequences for pregnant woman and unborn babies. Vaccination provides safe and effective protection, yet uptake among pregnant women is below national targets. Digital interventions are effective at increasing adherence to health interventions.

Aims: This review aimed to establish whether digital interventions are effective at increasing rates of flu vaccination among pregnant women, and to determine the overall effect size.

Method: Systematic searches identified digital intervention trials, aiming to increase rate of flu vaccination among pregnant women. Random-effects meta-analysis provided a combined effect size and examined which mode of digital interventions had the largest effects on flu vaccination.

Results: Ten studies were included in the review. The majority of digital interventions were more effective at increasing rates of flu vaccination (7–81.3% uptake) than usual care or non-digital interventions (7.3–47.1% uptake). When meta-analysed, digital interventions had a small, non-significant effect (odds ratio [OR] = 1.29, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.71, 2.31), P = 0.40. Text messages (OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 0.58, 2.67), P = 0.57 appeared less effective than other digital interventions (OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.02, 2.46), P = 0.04.

Conclusions: Overall, there is a lack of high-quality studies reporting the effectiveness of digital interventions at increasing flu vaccination during pregnancy. Future interventions may benefit from using video or social media to communicate messages for maximum success in targeting an increase in rates of flu vaccination in pregnancy.