The Frequency of Pregnancy Associated Sleep Disorders Among Pregnant Mothers Who Referred to Rasoul-Akram Hospital for Prenatal Care 2018 - 2019

Sleep, a physiological need, may be disturbed during pregnancy due to the psychological, anatomical, biochemical, hormonal, and emotional adaptations.

The present study aimed to investigate the frequency of morningness/eveningness, insomnia, and sleep disorders in pregnant mothers.

All healthy pregnant women who referred to Rasoul-Akram Hospital in 2018-2019 for prenatal care without severe medical diseases were included in the study by census method. They were asked to fill their demographics, Morningness Eveningness questionnaire (MEQ), Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), and insomnia severity index (ISI) after signing their informed consent. The data were analyzed using SPSS V.21. Women who gave birth before the third trimester were excluded from analysis.

A total of 347 women completed the study; mean age: 31.46 ± 5.36 years, mean gestational age: 24.68 ± 9.62 weeks. The mean MEQ score was 48.77 ± 5.15; 8.1% were moderate evening type, 85.3% intermediate, and 2.6% moderate morning type. Mean ISI score was 16.92 ± 5.51; 91.9% had insomnia; 31.1% reported (rather or very) poor sleep quality. The frequency of insomnia (based on ISI scores) and sleep disorders (based on PSQI dimensions) were neither different among the three trimesters of pregnancy, nor between complicated and uncomplicated pregnancies (P > 0.05). The MEQ score (P = 0.008, OR = 4.275) was positively, and the academic degree was negatively (P = 0.005, OR = 0.202) associated with sleep disorder.

The majority of pregnant mothers reported insomnia, and about one-third reported poor sleep quality, indicating the necessity of paying greater attention to the sleep disorders of pregnant women from the early trimester to prevent further complications.