A significant number of women experience sleep disturbances after becoming pregnant. However, uninterrupted and sound sleep is one of the essential factors needed to ensure a smooth pregnancy and birth.
Highlighting this point, a new study says sleep apnea during pregnancy can have a negative impact on both the baby and the mother. Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes abnormal stoppage of breathing while sleeping.
The study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology found experiencing sleep apnea during pregnancy leading to poor birth outcomes, particularly for obese women.
For proving the theory, Dr. Judette Louis and colleagues looked at 175 obese pregnant women part of an observational study. All the participants were monitored for obstructive sleep apnea with a portable device provided to them.
At the end of the analysis, the researchers found about 15.4 percent of the pregnant women suffering from sleep apnea. All the women in the sleep apnea group were heavier and had a history of chronic high blood pressure. Another remarkable finding was prevalence of sleep apnea leading to preeclampsia and cesarean birth.
Preeclampsia is a condition that triggers hypertension and will have a negative impact on both the pregnant women and their babies. Women suffering from preeclampsia will have high blood pressure, fluid retention and protein in the urine leading to adverse impact on the growth of the unborn baby in the uterus.
Apart from these pregnancy related complications, newborns of the women affected with sleep apnea were found at higher risk of being admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), mainly for respiratory distress.
"Our findings show that obstructive sleep apnea can contribute to poor outcomes for both obese mothers and their babies," said Louis, lead author and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Florida,in a statement. "Its role as a risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes independent of obesity should be examined more closely."
According to CDC, obesity affects one in five pregnant women in the United States.To avoid these complications, the authors suggest women to lose weight and maintain a healthy body before planning pregnancy.
