The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Predicting Pregnancy Complications

Authors

  • Albagir Mahdi Ahmed Hassan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63682/jns.v14i33S.9893

Keywords:

Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Explainable AI, Preeclampsia, High-Risk Pregnancies, Preterm Birth

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative tool in maternal healthcare, offering predictive capabilities to assess and manage pregnancy complications. This review examines the role of AI-driven techniques, including machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and hybrid models, in improving risk prediction for conditions such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and recurrent pregnancy loss. A systematic analysis of recent literature highlights the strengths of AI-based models in analyzing maternal health data, ultrasound images, and wearable sensor readings to enable early detection and personalized risk assessment. However, challenges such as data quality, model interpretability, algorithmic bias, and integration into clinical workflows remain significant barriers to widespread adoption. AI-powered predictive frameworks integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) technology show potential for real-time maternal health monitoring, enhancing preventive care and timely interventions. Furthermore, AI applications in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) improve embryo selection and in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes, although ethical concerns and regulatory compliance require further exploration. This review underscores the need for explainable AI (XAI) approaches, data standardization, and ethical oversight to ensure reliable and equitable maternal healthcare solutions. Future research should focus on enhancing AI transparency, addressing dataset biases, and developing clinically viable AI systems to optimize pregnancy risk prediction and maternal-fetal health outcomes..

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] R. Rescinito, M. Ratti, A. B. Payedimarri, and M. Panella, “Prediction models for intrauterine growth restriction using artificial intelligence and machine learning: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” in Healthcare, MDPI, 2023, p. 1617.

[2] R. M. Zimmerman et al., “AI-based analysis of fetal growth restriction in a prospective obstetric cohort quantifies compound risks for perinatal morbidity and mortality and identifies previously unrecognized high risk clinical scenarios,” BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 1–14, 2025.

[3] H. Alizadehmanesh, N. Zeraei, and others, “Short Review: Maternal and Fetal Health with Artificial Intelligence,” Int. J. Appl. Data Sci. Eng. Health, vol. 1, no. 3, 2024.

[4] J. Sumankuuro, M. Domapielle, and E. Derbile, “The what’s, where’s and why’s of miscarriage: evidence from the 2017 Ghana Maternal Health Survey,” Public Health, vol. 213, pp. 34–46, 2022.

[5] Y. Du, C. McNestry, L. Wei, A. M. Antoniadi, F. M. McAuliffe, and C. Mooney, “Machine learning-based clinical decision support systems for pregnancy care: a systematic review,” Int. J. Med. Inf., vol. 173, p. 105040, 2023.

[6] E. Medjedovic et al., “Artificial intelligence as a new answer to old challenges in maternal-fetal medicine and obstetrics,” Technol. Health Care, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 1273–1287, 2024.

[7] M. A. Rahman, R. M. Noor, S. Mallik, N. K. Santa, S. Deb, and A. Pathak, “Classification Of Health Risk Levels For Pregnant Women Using Support Vector Machine (SVM) Algorithm,” 2024.

[8] A. Bertini, R. Salas, S. Chabert, L. Sobrevia, and F. Pardo, “Using machine learning to predict complications in pregnancy: a systematic review,” Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol., vol. 9, p. 780389, 2022.

[9] H. Sufriyana, Y.-W. Wu, E. C.-Y. Su, and others, “Prediction of preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction: development of machine learning models on a prospective cohort,” JMIR Med. Inform., vol. 8, no. 5, p. e15411, 2020.

[10] A. O. Khadidos, F. Saleem, S. Selvarajan, Z. Ullah, and A. O. Khadidos, “Ensemble machine learning framework for predicting maternal health risk during pregnancy,” Sci. Rep., vol. 14, no. 1, p. 21483, 2024.

[11] H. M. Kim et al., “Improved prediction of clinical pregnancy using artificial intelligence with enhanced inner cell mass and trophectoderm images,” Sci. Rep., vol. 14, no. 1, p. 3240, 2024.

[12] L. Liu et al., “Wearable Sensors, Data Processing, and Artificial Intelligence in Pregnancy Monitoring: A Review,” Sensors, vol. 24, no. 19, p. 6426, 2024.

[13] S. N. Hinkle et al., “Pregnancy complications and long-term mortality in a diverse cohort,” Circulation, vol. 147, no. 13, pp. 1014–1025, 2023.

[14] I. M. Muxiddinovna and A. Z. Sobirovna, “Pregnancy with Twins with Preeclampsia,” Cent. Asian J. Lit. Philos. Cult., vol. 3, no. 11, pp. 212–221, 2022.

[15] P. Kuppusamy, R. K. Prusty, and D. P. Kale, “High-risk pregnancy in India: Prevalence and contributing risk factors–a national survey-based analysis,” J. Glob. Health, vol. 13, 2023.

[16] A. Turesheva et al., “Recurrent pregnancy loss etiology, risk factors, diagnosis, and management. Fresh look into a full box,” J. Clin. Med., vol. 12, no. 12, p. 4074, 2023.

[17] C. McNestry, S. L. Killeen, R. K. Crowley, and F. M. McAuliffe, “Pregnancy complications and later life women’s health,” Acta Obstet. Gynecol. Scand., vol. 102, no. 5, pp. 523–531, 2023.

[18] I. Yaseen and R. A. Rather, “A Theoretical Exploration of Artificial Intelligence’s Impact on Feto-Maternal Health from Conception to Delivery,” Int. J. Womens Health, Dec. 2024, Accessed: Feb. 06, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2147/IJWH.S454127

[19] S. Feduniw et al., “Application of artificial intelligence in screening for adverse perinatal outcomes—a systematic review,” in Healthcare, MDPI, 2022, p. 2164.

[20] A. Chavez-Badiola et al., “Use of artificial intelligence embryo selection based on static images to predict first-trimester pregnancy loss,” Reprod. Biomed. Online, vol. 49, no. 2, p. 103934, 2024.

[21] M. M. Munyao, E. M. Maina, S. M. Mambo, and A. Wanyoro, “Real-time pre-eclampsia prediction model based on IoT and machine learning,” Discov. Internet Things, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 10, 2024.

[22] J.-Y. Wen, C.-F. Liu, M.-T. Chung, and Y.-C. Tsai, “Artificial intelligence model to predict pregnancy and multiple pregnancy risk following in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET),” Taiwan. J. Obstet. Gynecol., vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 837–846, 2022.

[23] J. J. E. Macrohon, C. N. Villavicencio, X. A. Inbaraj, and J.-H. Jeng, “A Semi-Supervised Machine Learning Approach in Predicting High-Risk Pregnancies in the Philippines,” Diagnostics, vol. 12, no. 11, Art. no. 11, Nov. 2022, doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12112782.

[24] M. Owusu-Adjei, J. Ben Hayfron-Acquah, A.-S. Gaddafi, and T. Frimpong, “An AI-based approach to predict delivery outcome based on measurable factors of pregnant mothers,” Jun. 07, 2024, Obstetrics and Gynecology. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.07.24308404.

[25] M. Shaban, S. Mollazadeh, S. Eslami, F. Tara, S. Sharif, and F. E. Arghavanian, “Prediction of chromosomal abnormalities in the screening of the first trimester of pregnancy using machine learning methods: a study protocol,” Reprod. Health, vol. 21, no. 1, p. 101, 2024.

[26] H. Zhou et al., “Predictive value of ultrasonic artificial intelligence in placental characteristics of early pregnancy for gestational diabetes mellitus,” Front. Endocrinol., vol. 15, p. 1344666, 2024.

[27] Y. Wu et al., “Risk prediction model based on machine learning for predicting miscarriage among pregnant patients with immune abnormalities,” Front. Pharmacol., vol. 15, p. 1366529, 2024.

[28] M. A. Sufian et al., “Innovative Machine Learning Strategies for Early Detection and Prevention of Pregnancy Loss: The Vitamin D Connection and Gestational Health,” Diagnostics, vol. 14, no. 9, p. 920, Apr. 2024, doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14090920.

[29] J. Torres-Torres et al., “Performance of machine-learning approach for prediction of pre-eclampsia in a middle-income country,” Ultrasound Obstet. Gynecol., vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 350–357, 2024.

[30] M. Shamshuzzoha and M. M. Islam, “Early Prediction Model of Macrosomia Using Machine Learning for Clinical Decision Support,” Diagnostics, vol. 13, no. 17, Art. no. 17, Jan. 2023, doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13172754.

[31] D. Mennickent et al., “Machine learning applied in maternal and fetal health: a narrative review focused on pregnancy diseases and complications,” Front. Endocrinol., vol. 14, p. 1130139, 2023.

[32] Y. Ren et al., “Risk factors and machine learning prediction models for intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy,” BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, vol. 25, no. 1, Art. no. 1, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.1186/s12884-025-07180-4.

[33] L. Gómez-Jemes, A. M. Oprescu, Á. Chimenea-Toscano, L. García-Díaz, and M. del C. Romero-Ternero, “Machine learning to predict pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction in pregnant women,” Electronics, vol. 11, no. 19, p. 3240, 2022.

[34] C. Wang et al., “Prediction of pregnancy-related complications in women undergoing assisted reproduction, using machine learning methods,” Fertil. Steril., 2024.

[35] X. Zhou et al., “Machine learning techniques for prediction in pregnancy complicated by autoimmune rheumatic diseases: Applications and challenges,” Int. Immunopharmacol., vol. 134, p. 112238, 2024.

[36] Y. Wang et al., “Automated prediction of early spontaneous miscarriage based on the analyzing ultrasonographic gestational sac imaging by the convolutional neural network: a case-control and cohort study,” BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, vol. 22, no. 1, Art. no. 1, Dec. 2022, doi: 10.1186/s12884-022-04936-0.

[37] A. Javed et al., “Applying advanced data analytics on pregnancy complications to predict miscarriage with explainable AI,” IEEE Access, 2024.

[38] S. D. Sharma, S. Sharma, R. Singh, A. Gehlot, N. Priyadarshi, and B. Twala, “Stress Detection System for Working Pregnant Women Using an Improved Deep Recurrent Neural Network,” Electronics, vol. 11, no. 18, Art. no. 18, Jan. 2022, doi: 10.3390/electronics11182862.

[39] A. Raza, H. U. R. Siddiqui, K. Munir, M. Almutairi, F. Rustam, and I. Ashraf, “Ensemble learning-based feature engineering to analyze maternal health during pregnancy and health risk prediction,” PLOS ONE, vol. 17, no. 11, p. e0276525, Nov. 2022, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276525.

[40] Q. Wang, D. Liu, and G. Liu, “[Retracted] Value of Ultrasonic Image Features in Diagnosis of Perinatal Outcomes of Severe Preeclampsia on account of Deep Learning Algorithm,” Comput. Math. Methods Med., vol. 2022, no. 1, p. 4010339, 2022.

[41] B. Huang, S. Zheng, B. Ma, Y. Yang, S. Zhang, and L. Jin, “Using deep learning to predict the outcome of live birth from more than 10,000 embryo data,” BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, vol. 22, no. 1, Art. no. 1, Dec. 2022, doi: 10.1186/s12884-021-04373-5.

[42] D. S. H. Ahammad and D. N. Yathiraju, “Maternity Risk Prediction Using IOT Module with Wearable Sensor and Deep Learning Based Feature Extraction and Classification Technique,” Res. J. Comput. Syst. Eng., vol. 2, no. 1, Art. no. 1, 2021, doi: 10.52710/rjcse.19.

[43] K. Kalyani and P. S. Deshpande, “A deep learning model for predicting blastocyst formation from cleavage-stage human embryos using time-lapse images,” Sci. Rep., vol. 14, no. 1, Art. no. 1, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-79175-8.

[44] S. Muntaha and S. Dewanjee, “Integrating XAI with Hybrid BiGRU-BiLSTM Model for Comprehensive Maternal-Fetal Health Risk Monitoring,” 2024.

[45] M. M. Zafar, N. Javaid, I. Shaheen, N. Alrajeh, and S. Aslam, “Enhancing clinical decision support with explainable deep learning framework for C-section forecasting,” Computing, vol. 107, no. 1, pp. 1–45, Jan. 2025, doi: 10.1007/s00607-024-01354-2.

[46] K.-H. Huang et al., “Prediction of pre-eclampsia complicated by fetal growth restriction and its perinatal outcome based on an artificial neural network model,” Front. Physiol., vol. 13, p. 992040, 2022.

[47] J. He, X. Zhu, X. Yang, and H. Wang, “Predictive efficacy of machine-learning algorithms on intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy based on clinical and laboratory indicators,” J. Matern. Fetal Neonatal Med., Dec. 2025, Accessed: Feb. 06, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14767058.2024.2413854

[48] L. Jamel et al., “Improving prediction of maternal health risks using PCA features and TreeNet model,” PeerJ Comput. Sci., vol. 10, p. e1982, 2024.

[49] H. Allahem and S. Sampalli, “Automated labour detection framework to monitor pregnant women with a high risk of premature labour using machine learning and deep learning,” Inform. Med. Unlocked, vol. 28, p. 100771, Jan. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.imu.2021.100771.

[50] T. O. Togunwa, A. O. Babatunde, and K.-R. Abdullah, “Deep hybrid model for maternal health risk classification in pregnancy: synergy of ANN and random forest,” Front. Artif. Intell., vol. 6, p. 1213436, 2023

Downloads

Published

2025-12-10

How to Cite

1.
Ahmed Hassan AM. The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Predicting Pregnancy Complications. J Neonatal Surg [Internet]. 2025 Dec. 10 [cited 2026 Feb. 1];14(33S):425-44. Available from: https://jneonatalsurg.com/index.php/jns/article/view/9893