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The prevalence and associated risk factors of sleep disorder-related symptoms in pregnant women in China

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Abstract

Purpose

The sleep disorder in pregnant women remains unfamiliar to perinatal care providers, resulting in lack of appropriate care. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of sleep disorder-related symptoms in pregnant women and to identify the associated risk factors.

Methods

Married pregnant women were enrolled from their first trimester and followed up until delivery. Nonpregnant married healthy women were selected as controls. A survey questionnaire was administered to each of them.

Results

We successfully performed a survey to 1,993 pregnant women and 598 nonpregnant women. The overall prevalence of sleep disorder-related symptoms in pregnant women was significantly higher than the controls (56.1 vs. 29.9 %, P < 0.05). There was higher prevalence of snoring (30.2 %), observed sleep apnea (1.1 %), mouth breathing (23.7 %), nocturnal arousal (46.5 %), insomnia (35.1 %), and daytime sleepiness (52.6 %) in pregnant women. There were no significant differences of the prevalence of bruxism (7.0 vs. 6.7 %), sleep talking (8.1 vs. 7.2 %), and sleep walking (0.4 vs. 0.2 %) between the two groups (P > 0.05). Nocturnal sleep time (8.0 ± 1.3 h) was less in the third trimester compared with the nonpregnant women (8.2 ± 1.1 h) (P < 0.05). Smoking (OR = 3.39), drinking (OR = 2.40), allergic rhinitis/asthma (OR = 1.71), an obvious difference in neck circumference (OR = 1.11), and waistline (OR = 1.07) changes between the first and third trimesters were the risk factors for sleep disorder-related problems.

Conclusions

There is a high prevalence of sleep disorder-related symptoms in pregnant women. Our data may provide a baseline for prevention and treatment of sleep disturbances in pregnant women.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Program of National Planned Parenthood Grant (C-52), Zhejiang Province Science and Technology Grant (2008C33011), Wenzhou City Science and Technology Bureau Grant (Y20080083). We appreciate the statistical help from Dr. Mao Guang-Yun, the School of Environmental Science & Public Health of Wenzhou Medical College. We thank Dr. Jing Lin of Mount Sinai School of Medicine for the critical review and comments.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflict of interest regarding the material discussed in this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, the Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, China

    Xiao-Hong Cai, Xiu-Cui Li, Ting Li & Hong-Xia Wang

  2. Department of Pulmonology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, China

    Yu-Peng Xie & Liang-Xing Wang

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, China

    Wang-Lei Qu & Jie-Qiang Lv

Authors
  1. Xiao-Hong Cai
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  2. Yu-Peng Xie
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  3. Xiu-Cui Li
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  4. Wang-Lei Qu
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  5. Ting Li
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  6. Hong-Xia Wang
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  7. Jie-Qiang Lv
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  8. Liang-Xing Wang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiao-Hong Cai or Liang-Xing Wang.

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Cai, XH., Xie, YP., Li, XC. et al. The prevalence and associated risk factors of sleep disorder-related symptoms in pregnant women in China. Sleep Breath 17, 951–956 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-012-0783-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-012-0783-2

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