Sleep disturbances in Korean pregnant and postpartum women

Abstract

This was a prospective, cohort study in Korean pregnant and postpartum women, to estimate the prevalence and patterns of sleep disturbances. The survey was composed of the following validated sleep questionnaires: the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Women’s Health Initiative Insomnia Rating Scale, Berlin Questionnaire for sleep disordered breathing, the international restless leg syndrome (IRLS) Study Group criteria, and the Johns Hopkins Telephone Diagnostic Interview Form (JHTDIF) for RLS. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 18.0. Six hundred eighty-nine women completed sleep surveys. The overall percentage of women with very poor sleep quality (a PSQI score greater than 10), clinically significant insomnia (a total score of 9 or more), excessive daytime sleepiness (a total ESS score of 10 or more), short sleep duration (less than 7 hours per night) were 80.7%, 50.5%, 34.0% and 29.5%, respectively, and all of three parameters became increased as pregnancy progressed and after delivery ( p = 0.002, 0.001, and 0.001, respectively). The overall positive rates in Berlin and RLS questionnaires were 25.4% and 19.4%. In conclusion, sleep disturbances are prevalent among Korean pregnant and postpartum women, and increase significantly as pregnancy progresses and after delivery.

Keywords::

• Korean
• pregnancy
• postpartum
• sleep disturbances

Declaration of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Current knowledge on the subject

• Pregnancy is associated with hormonal, anatomic and mechanical changes that alter sleep patterns and quality of sleep.

• Sleep disturbances might be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as increased risk of fetal growth restriction and pre-eclampsia.

• It is needed to understand the prevalence and patterns of sleep disturbances during pregnancy and postpartum period.

What this study adds

• Sleep disturbances are prevalent in not only pregnant but also postpartum women, and increase significantly as pregnancy progresses and after delivery.

• Meaningful cut-off definition of overall poor sleep quality, or very poor sleep quality in pregnancy and postpartum should be considered more than 10 in PSQI, due to the nature of overall poor sleep quality during pregnancy and postpartum.