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

  • Epidemiology • Short Communication
  • Published:
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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.

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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).

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Authors and 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
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  2. Yong Won Cho
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  3. Jin Gon Bae
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keun Tae Kim.

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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.

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

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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

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

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