Sleep deprivation in pregnancy can lead to poor birth outcomes, a new study says.
A team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that women who reported poor sleep during pregnancy experienced more birth-related complications like premature birth and having underweight babies when compared to women who got enough sleep during pregnancy.
Lack of quality sleep after conceiving can disturb maternal immune system, lead author of the study, Dr. Michele Okun, said while explaining the occurrence.
Disturbances in sleep during pregnancy leads to excess production of a protein known as cytokines, which helps immune cells communicate with each other. However, the overproduction of the protein results in destruction of many healthy cells and tissues.
More than 170 pregnant women participated in the study. All the participants were 20 weeks pregnant. Researchers recorded the cytokine levels, prevalence of insomnia and depression among the women They also monitored the participants' sleep patterns for 10 weeks and kept a record of the cytokine levels in them during the study period.
The sleep-related problems were more common among depressed pregnant women than non-depressed women.
The experts also looked at some previous studies on the impact of excess levels of the protein, which found that higher concentration of cytokine played a major role in pre-eclampsia and pre-term birth.
Though infections during pregnancy can also lead to this occurrence, disturbed sleep and depression are two other major factors that increase the risk, according to the scientists.
"While cytokines are important for numerous pregnancy-related processes, excess cytokines can attack and destroy healthy cells and cause destruction of tissue in pregnant women, thereby inhibiting the ability to ward off disease," "Dr. Okun, explained. "For expectant mothers, excess cytokines also can disrupt spinal arteries leading to the placenta, cause vascular disease, lead to depression and cause pre-term birth."
Disturbed sleep is one of the common problems experienced by many women during pregnancy. Concerned with the findings, the researchers urged pregnant women to take their sleep problems more seriously and recommended health practitioners to help expecting moms handle the difficulties.
"Our results highlight the importance of identifying sleep problems in early pregnancy, especially in women experiencing depression, since sleep is a modifiable behavior," Dr. Okun, assistant professor of psychiatry at Pitt's School of Medicine, said in a news release. "The earlier that sleep problems are identified, the sooner physicians can work with pregnant women to implement solutions."
The study has been published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
