Telehealth in Pregnancy: Historical Evolution and Practical Insights from Iran and Turkey

Document Type : Conference Paper

Authors

1 Department of Digital Health, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom

3 Associate Professor, Division of Public Health, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

4 Associate Professor, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Faculty of Medicine, Süleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkiye

5 Assistant Professor, Department of Digital Health, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

This narrative review explores the history of telehealth in pregnancy, following the evolution of telehealth since initial physiological monitoring systems in the 1960s to the complex digital platforms that many have embraced during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the progress has been global, there is an increased interest in Iran and Turkey, where telehealth initiatives have evolved significantly over the past years. The literature review was performed through queries in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus with the following keywords: telehealth, telemedicine, pregnancy, Iran, Turkey, history. Telehealth in obstetrics was initially in the form of low-end consultations in the 1990s, but has evolved into high-end digital gadgets (e.g. apps, sensors) by the 2010s. Equity, privacy, and evidence-based standards should be considered in the requirements of the future integration owing to the desire of quality and accessibility.

Keywords

References

  1. Aydogdu, C., and Aydogdu, O., 2013. An overview of telemedicine in Turkey. Biotecnol, an Indian Journal, 7, pp. 89–101.
  2. Fryer, K., Delgado, A., Foti, T., Reid, C.N., and Marshall, J., 2020. Implementation of obstetric telehealth during COVID-19 and beyond. Matern Child Health J, 24(9), pp.1104–1110
  3. Melton, S., Simmons, S.C., Smith, B.A., and Hamilton, D.R., 2020. Telemedicine, in: Principles of Clinical Medicine for Space Flight. New York, NY: Springer.
  4. Rafiee, Z., Eshaghzadeh, N.S.M., Pirani, H., et al, 2024. History of Telehealth in Iran. jiitm, 14 (4), pp. 297-306.
  5. Rahmah, L., Sukadiono, S., Mundakir, M., et al, 2025. A Review of Telesurgery in Extreme Settings: A Narrative Review. J e-health Off J Am Telemed Assoc, 31, pp. 701–715. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2024.0428
Journal of Research on History of Medicine
Volume 14, Suppl. 1
The 2nd History of Medicine Meeting: Entangled Histories: Contribution of Iran and Türkiye to the Development of Medical Sciences; 2025 Oct 7-10; Shiraz, Iran
October 2025
Pages 69-74

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics