Skip to main content

Quality of sleep and quality of life measured monthly in pregnant women in South Korea

Sleep and Breathing volume 24, pages 1219–1222 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

The change in sleep patterns across the duration of pregnancy is an item of interest. The aim of this study is to provide data on pregnant women’s quality of sleep (QoS) and quality of life (QoL) to determine appropriate times to screen for potential problems.

Methods

This is a multicenter, prospective, longitudinal observational study. Primigravidae, with no previous illness, completed questionnaires once a month. Strict exclusion criteria were applied in order to evaluate QoS and QoL in “normal” pregnant women.

Results

A total of 83 normal primigravidae completed this study. The mean age was 33.1 ± 4.0. During pregnancy, body mass index gradually increased, and QoS worsened to a significant degree between the fifth and ninth months (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index 6.8 ± 2.8 vs. 8.9 ± 3.6, p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference in QoL between the fifth and seventh months (Short Form-36 70.8 ± 18.3 vs. 67.3 ± 15.1, p = 0.009). There was no evidence of significant depression or suspicion of sleep-disordered breathing.

Conclusions

Pregnant women in South Korea have gradual worsening of QoS which becomes clinically significant by full term. QoL changes significantly between the fifth and seventh months. The results of this observational study suggest that it would be fruitful to evaluate QoS and QoL in pregnant women between the second and third trimesters.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  1. Warland J, Dorrian J, Morrison JL, O’Brien LM (2018) Maternal sleep during pregnancy and poor fetal outcomes: a scoping review of the literature with meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev 41:197–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Xu YH, Shi L, Bao YP, Chen SJ, Shi J, Zhang RL, Lu L (2018) Association between sleep duration during pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis. Sleep Med 52:67–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Cai S, Tan S, Gluckman PD, Godfrey KM, Saw SM, Teoh OH, Chong YS, Meaney MJ, Kramer MS, Gooley JJ, on behalf of the GUSTO study group (2017) Sleep quality and nocturnal sleep duration in pregnancy and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. Sleep 40

  4. Teong ACA, Diong AX, Omar SZ, Tan PC (2017) The impact of self-reported sleep on caesarean delivery in women undergoing induction of labour: a prospective study. Sci Rep 7:12339

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Okun ML (2016) Disturbed sleep and postpartum depression. Curr Psychiatry Rep 18:66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Na-Rungsri K, Lertmaharit S, Lohsoonthorn V, Totienchai S, Jaimchariyatam N (2016) Obstructive sleep apnea and the risk of preterm delivery. Sleep Breath 20:1111–1117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Sivertsen B, Petrie KJ, Skogen JC, Hysing M, Eberhard-Gran M (2017) Insomnia before and after childbirth: the risk of developing postpartum pain-a longitudinal population-based study. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 210:348–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Kloss JD, Perlis ML, Zamzow JA, Culnan EJ, Gracia CR (2015) Sleep, sleep disturbance, and fertility in women. Sleep Med Rev 22:78–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kown Jake YJ (2019) South Korea’s fertility rate falls to record low. Cable News Network

  10. Wang G, Deng Y, Jiang Y, Lin Q, Dong S, Song Y et al (2018) Trajectories of sleep quality from late pregnancy to 36 months postpartum and association with maternal mood disturbances: a longitudinal and prospective cohort study. Sleep 41(12). https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsy179

  11. Sohn SI, Kim DH, Lee MY, Cho YW (2012) The reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Sleep Breath 16:803–812

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Cho YW, Song ML, Morin CM (2014) Validation of a Korean version of the insomnia severity index. J Clin Neurol 10:210–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Cho YW, Lee JH, Son HK, Lee SH, Shin C, Johns MW (2011) The reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Epworth sleepiness scale. Sleep Breath 15:377–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. LE Lim SY, Jeong SW, Kim HC, Jeong CH, Jeon TY, Yi MS, Kim JM, Jo HJ, Kim JB (2011) The validation study of Beck Depression Scale 2 in Korean version. Anxiety Mood 7:48–53

  15. Han CW, Lee EJ, Iwaya T, Kataoka H, Kohzuki M (2004) Development of the Korean version of Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey: health related QOL of healthy elderly people and elderly patients in Korea. Tohoku J Exp Med 203:189–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Van Ravesteyn LM, Tulen JH, Kamperman AM, Raats ME, Schneider AJ, Birnie E et al (2014) Perceived sleep quality is worse than objective parameters of sleep in pregnant women with a mental disorder. J Clin Sleep Med 10:1137–1141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Fernandez-Alonso AM, Trabalon-Pastor M, Chedraui P, Perez-Lopez FR (2012) Factors related to insomnia and sleepiness in the late third trimester of pregnancy. Arch Gynecol Obstet 286:55–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Skouteris H, Germano C, Wertheim EH, Paxton SJ, Milgrom J (2008) Sleep quality and depression during pregnancy: a prospective study. J Sleep Res 17:217–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Hedman C, Pohjasvaara T, Tolonen U, Suhonen-Malm AS, Myllyla VV (2002) Effects of pregnancy on mothers’ sleep. Sleep Med 3:37–42

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Yeonhap (2018) Less than half of South Koreans say marriage necessary: survey. The Korea Hehald. Seoul: Kwon Chung-won. p 1

  21. Bei B, Coo S, Trinder J (2015) Sleep and mood during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Sleep Med Clin 10:25–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank and acknowledge So-Young Do and Yeong Seon Lee for their work on data processing.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean government (Ministry of Science and ICT) (No. 2017R1C1B5076728).

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, South Korea

    Keun Tae Kim & Yong Won Cho

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, South Korea

    Jin Gon Bae

Authors
  1. Keun Tae Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yong Won Cho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jin Gon Bae
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keun Tae Kim.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kim, K.T., Cho, Y.W. & Bae, J.G. Quality of sleep and quality of life measured monthly in pregnant women in South Korea. Sleep Breath 24, 1219–1222 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-020-02041-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-020-02041-0

Keywords

  • Pregnancy
  • Sleep
  • Quality of sleep
  • Quality of life