Relationship between sleep pattern dysfunction with psychological stress, anxiety and depression among pregnant women.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the relationship between sleep pattern dysfunction with stress, anxiety and depression among pregnant women in a tertiary care hospital.

Method: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at Dr. Ruth K. M. Pfau at Civil Hospital, Karachi from December, 2021 till January, 2022 in which total three hundred pregnant women were included. The association between maternal psychiatric symptoms with the sleep pattern was explored using the Chi- square test. The multivariable logistic regression technique was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and to estimate the association of sleep pattern dysfunction with psychiatric illnesses.

Results: Sleep disorder was found in 49.3% of the pregnant women. Among these women, 54.0% had antepartum depression, 31.3% had stress and 44% reported anxiety. Women with sleep pattern dysfunction were nine times more likely to develop antepartum depression as compared to women without sleep pattern dysfunction (OR: 9.25, 95% CI: 5.45-15.70). Similarly, stress was five times more likely to develop in women with sleep pattern dysfunction (OR: 5.06, 95% CI: 2.92-8.76). Furthermore, Anxiety is also four times likely to develop in women with sleep pattern dysfunction (OR: 4.76, 95% CI: 2.91-7.80) compared to women without any sleep disturbances.

Conclusions: During pregnancy, sleep disturbances were related to the increased risk of developing psychiatric illnesses. It was found that women with disturbed sleep patterns had high rates of antepartum depression followed by stress and anxiety as compared to women without disturbed sleep patterns.