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. 2023 Jan-Dec:19:17455057231190952.
doi: 10.1177/17455057231190952.

Longitudinal changes in objective sleep parameters during pregnancy

Yuqing Guo  1 , Qi Xu  2 , Nikil Dutt  3 , Priscilla Kehoe  1 , Annie Qu  2
Affiliations

Longitudinal changes in objective sleep parameters during pregnancy

Yuqing Guo et al. Womens Health (Lond). 2023 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Sleep disturbances are associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. Thus, it is necessary to understand the continuous patterns of sleep during pregnancy and how moderators such as maternal age and pre-pregnancy body mass index impact sleep.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the continuous changes in sleep parameters objectively (i.e. sleep stages, total sleep time, and awake time) in pregnant women and to describe the impact of maternal age and/or pre-pregnancy body mass index as moderators of these objective sleep parameters.

Design: This was a longitudinal observational design.

Methods: Seventeen women with a singleton pregnancy participated in this study. Mixed model repeated measures were used to describe weekly patterns, while aggregated changes describe these three pregnancy periods (10-19, 20-29, and 30-39 gestational weeks).

Results: For the weekly patterns, we found significantly decreased deep (1.26 ± 0.18 min/week, p < 0.001), light (0.72 ± 0.37 min/week, p = 0.05), and total sleep time (1.56 ± 0.47 min/week, p < 0.001) as well as increased awake time (1.32 ± 0.34 min/week, p < 0.001). For the aggregated changes, we found similar patterns to weekly changes. Women (⩾30 years) had an even greater decrease in deep sleep (1.50 ± 0.22 min/week, p < 0.001) than those younger (0.84 ± 0.29 min/week, p = 0.04). Women who were both overweight/obese and ⩾30 years experienced an increase in rapid eye movement sleep (0.84 ± 0.31 min/week, p = 0.008), but those of normal weight (<30 years) did not.

Conclusion: This study appears to be the first to describe continuous changes in sleep parameters during pregnancy at home. Our study provides preliminary evidence that sleep parameters could be potential non-invasive physiological markers predicting perinatal outcomes.

Keywords: longitudinal changes; objective sleep parameters; pregnancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Weekly changes in sleep parameters by gestational weeks: (a) deep sleep, (b) REM sleep, (c) light sleep, and (d) total sleep time.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Moderators for deep sleep and REM sleep: (a) Maternal age as a moderator for deep sleep. (b) Maternal age and pre-pregnancy BMI as moderators for REM sleep.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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