Maternal sleep quality during early pregnancy, risk factors and its impact on pregnancy outcomes: a prospective cohort study

Objectives: We aimed to assess the prevalence of poor sleep quality during early pregnancy and its risk factors, and to explore the association between sleep quality and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Methods: This was a prospective birth cohort study that included 4352 pregnant women. Sleep quality were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The risk factors for poor sleep quality were analyzed by a logistic regression model. Log-binomial regression models were used to analyze the association between sleep quality and pregnancy outcomes. Results: The prevalence of maternal poor sleep quality during early pregnancy was 34.14%. The multi-variate logistic model showed that stillbirth history (OR = 2.45; 95% CI: 1.34, 4.47), history of induced abortion (OR = 1.26; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.49), general health-related quality of life (OR = 3.98; 95% CI: 2.97, 5.34), insufficient physical activity (OR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.36), smoking (OR = 1.59; 95% CI: 1.18, 2.15), and vegetarian (OR = 2.18; 95% CI: 1.54, 3.08) were risk factors for poor sleep quality, while taking folic acid consistently before pregnancy (OR = 0.83; 95% CI: 0.72,0.97) was the protective factor. After con-trolling for all the confounders, poor sleep quality during early pregnancy increased the risk of premature rupture of membranes by 12% (95% CI: 1.00, 1.25). Conclusion: Pregnant women with a history of stillbirth and induced abortion, general health-related quality of life, insufficient physical activity, smoking, and a vegetarian diet tended to have poor sleep quality. More attention should be paid to healthy lifestyle of pregnant women to improve sleep quality and better pregnancy outcomes. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The study found that the prevalence of poor sleep quality during early pregnancy was 34.14%. Various factors such as history, lifestyle choices, etc., may lead to poor sleep quality, thereby increasing the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.