Challenges and opportunities in perinatal public health: the utility of perinatal health inequality dashboards in addressing disparities in maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Introduction: In clinical settings, digital dashboards display medical data, with the aim of identifying trends and signals. In so doing these contribute towards improving service delivery and care within hospitals. It is not clear whether the utility of perinatal health equity dashboards could be used to identify health inequality trends that could potentially impact on health service delivery, care and public health interventions. This study aims to evaluate the implementation of health inequality dashboards that address disparities in maternal and neonatal outcomes, with a specific focus on identifying key challenges encountered during their deployment and use in healthcare settings.

Methods: Three databases, namely Embase, CINAHL, and Medline were searched to identify relevant studies in English Language published between 2010 and 2022. All findings were reported according to PRISMA guidelines for scoping reviews.

Results: Of 670 identified articles, only 13 met the inclusion criteria. The study identified three key themes: dashboard functionality, data accuracy, and challenges in collecting health inequality data. Dashboards were used to visualize disparities, with functionalities focusing on specific audiences, contents, and utility. Issues with data completeness, standardization, and challenges in collecting consistent health inequality data, especially from diverse ethnic groups, hindered the accurate tracking of maternal and neonatal disparities.

Conclusion: The use of perinatal health inequality dashboards is a critical step forward in optimizing maternal and neonatal care by providing targeted interventions. However, further research is needed to assess their long-term impact on reducing health inequalities, while addressing challenges related to data accuracy, completeness, and standardization to improve their effectiveness.