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Health-care utilisation amongst pregnant women who experience sleeping problems and/or tiredness or fatigue: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of 1835 pregnant women

  • Epidemiology • Original Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Introduction

Sleeping problems and fatigue in pregnancy are often accepted as a normal part of pregnancy; however, these conditions can be linked to serious consequences for both the mother and child. Despite established links between sleeping disturbance and a wide range of pregnancy complications, little is known about the health-care utilisation of women experiencing sleeping problems and fatigue. This study addresses the existing gap in the literature by examining cross-sectional data to identify health service utilisation patterns of pregnant women experiencing sleeping problems and/or tiredness or fatigue.

Methods

In 2010, a sub-study of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health was conducted as a cross-sectional survey of 2445 women who had recently given birth. Associations between reported symptoms of sleeplessness and/or tiredness or fatigue and health service utilisation were determined using logistic regression analysis.

Results

During their pregnancy, 15.2 % of women experienced sleeping problems while 35.4 % experienced tiredness or fatigue. Women most commonly consulted with an obstetrician (n = 96) or a general practitioner (GP) (n = 74) for their tiredness or fatigue rather than a midwife (n = 56). A substantial number of women sought help from a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioner for sleeping problems (33 %) or tiredness/fatigue (28 %).

Discussion

Sleeping problems and/or tiredness or fatigue is reported by a reasonable percentage of pregnant women, and women obtain assistance from conventional and CAM practitioners for their symptoms, but not all seek help. Given the serious implications of untreated sleep- and fatigue-related symptoms for mother and baby, this area of research deserves and requires more attention.

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Acknowledgments

The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, which was conceived and developed by groups of interdisciplinary researchers at the University of Newcastle and the University of Queensland, is funded by the Australian Department of Health and Ageing. We thank all the participants for their valuable contribution to this project. We also thank the NHMRC for funding Professor Jon Adams via an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship as well as the ARC for funding this project via their Discovery Project Funding (DP1094765) and for funding Associate Professor Alex Broom via an ARC Future Fellowship.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Knappschafts-Krakenhaus, Essen, Germany

    Romy Lauche

  2. School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University, Frankston, VIC, Australia

    Helen Hall

  3. Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia

    Romy Lauche, Helen Hall, Jon Adams, Amie Steel & David Sibbritt

  4. Office of Research, Endeavour College of Natural Health, Fortitude Valley, QLD, Australia

    Amie Steel

  5. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Alex Broom

Authors
  1. Romy Lauche
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  4. Amie Steel
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Correspondence to Amie Steel.

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Lauche, R., Hall, H., Adams, J. et al. Health-care utilisation amongst pregnant women who experience sleeping problems and/or tiredness or fatigue: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of 1835 pregnant women. Sleep Breath 20, 355–362 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-015-1250-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-015-1250-7

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