Relationship Between Sleep Quality, Depression Symptoms, and Blood Glucose in Pregnant Women

Abstract

Sleep quality during pregnancy affects maternal/child health. We aimed to assess changes in sleep quality during pregnancy and determine its relationship to maternal mood, blood glucose, and work schedule among primiparous women. We conducted a prospective/longitudinal/observational study. Ninety-two pregnant women were recruited from Midwestern hospital. Mood and sleep quality data were collected using Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale/Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at Gestational Weeks 22 and 32. Forty-three women completed the study. Twenty-six women (63%) were African American and the mean age was 23.64 ( SD = 3.82) years. Rate of poor sleep quality increased during pregnancy with 25% of women had scores indicative of depression symptoms. Poor sleep quality score was related to mood scores ( p < .05) and work schedule. Blood glucose was not significantly related to sleep duration. In conclusion, poor sleep quality during pregnancy was associated with poor mood and work schedule, suggesting that interventions targeting mental health and lifestyles are needed.

Pregnancy rest-activity patterns are related to salivary cortisol rhythms and maternal-fetal health indicators in women from a disadvantaged population

“…The remaining were withdrawn by research staff due to lack of compliance to study protocol. There was no difference in demographic variables between recruited, retained and withdrawn populations [18,19].…”

“…Across all study time points r24 was significantly related with cortisol amplitude, which suggests that rest-activity behaviors affect the quality of cortisol rhythms. Our previous study of this population, found that women who worked daytime shifts had significantly better self-assessed sleep quality than those who worked eveningnight or rotating shifts [19]. The subset of the population that was unemployed had a wide variability in sleep quality scores, resulting in no difference in sleep quality between group and day-time or shift/night workers.…”

“…Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare activity and cortisol cosinor analysis variables across the three study timepoints. Because of the limited sample size we were not able to determine the relationship of variables in groups of participants with and without diagnosis of preeclampsia, hypertension, or gestational diabetes (GDM) alone, so despite being etiologically distinct diseases, women were categorized as diagnosed with gestational related disease or not [approximately 1/3 of participants; please see [18] and [19]]. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine effect of categorical BMI (r < 25 or >25) or diagnosis of gestational related disease (yes or no for diagnosis of hypertension, preeclampsia and, or GDM during pregnancy) on r24 of activity or rest-activity and saliva cortisol cosine fit calculated variables.…”

“…The mean age of study participants was 23 ± 3.8 years old, with 64% indicating they were Black or African American and of low socioeconomic status. Detailed descriptions of the sample of the population that completed actigraphy [18] and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) surveys [19] are available in our previous publications. The demographics of the population that completed the saliva collection arm was similar to the population that completed actigraphy and PSQI survey components of the study (Table 1).…”

Feasibility of a Sleep Self-Management Intervention in Pregnancy Using a Personalized Health Monitoring Device: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Sleep disruptions are common during pregnancy [1] and are associated with an increased risk of adverse maternal/fetal outcomes such as hyperglycemia [2,3], gestational diabetes [4], preeclampsia [5], cesarean delivery [6], longer labor [7], and delivering a low birthweight infant [8]. Additionally, women with poor sleep in pregnancy experience increased depressive symptoms during pregnancy [9] and postpartum depression [10], which increase their risk of depression later in life [11].…”