Publications

Abstract 

Introduction: Sleep is a basic essential, and sleep disturbances are common during pregnancy, which is linked to poor maternal and fetal outcomes. 

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among antenatal women attending a rural maternity hospital in Ramnagara District, Karnataka using consecutive sampling. A predesigned, face-validated structured questionnaire and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were administered. Mean PSQI score of ≥5 was considered as poor sleep quality.

 Results: Of the 200 pregnant women in the study, 54.5% had poor sleep quality and 76.5% had inadequate duration of sleep (<8 hours a day). The factors found to be significantly associated with poor quality sleep in this study were increased maternal age, joint family, lower socioeconomic status, increased parity, increasing gestational age, presence of complications in the current pregnancy, previous bad obstetric history, exposure to passive smoking, not sleeping on a bed and mattress, use of mobile phone and TV at bedtime, lack of physical activity, and lack of afternoon naps. Women who used mobile phones at bedtime had nine times higher risk of inadequate sleep and five times higher risk of poor sleep quality. Women who did not sleep on a bed with mattress had 10 times higher risk and those exposed to passive smoking had four times greater risk of poor sleep quality. Conclusion: The quality and the duration of sleep among pregnant women were inadequate. There is a need to educate women about the importance of quality sleep during pregnancy and it should be assessed during routine antenatal care.