Burden of sleep disturbance in non-Hispanic Black pregnant women.

STUDY OBJECTIVES

Non-Hispanic Black pregnant women disproportionately experience poor perinatal outcomes compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Sleep disruption has emerged as a risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes, but there are limited data in minority pregnant women. We examined the prevalence of habitual snoring and its timing of onset with several key sleep-wake disturbances and their associations with perinatal outcomes in a cohort of non-Hispanic Black pregnant women.

METHODS

Non-Hispanic Black pregnant women in their third trimester were recruited from a large academic medical center and screened for habitual snoring and its timing relative to pregnancy, along with sleep quality, symptoms of insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, and daytime function. Clinical diagnoses of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were obtained along with delivery outcomes.

RESULTS

In 235 women, the vast majority (80%) reported 3 or more sleep-wake disturbances, and almost half had at least 5 disturbances. Sixteen percent reported prepregnancy snoring and 20% reported pregnancy-onset snoring. Women with pregnancy-onset snoring had significantly increased odds of poor sleep quality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 8.2), trouble staying asleep (aOR = 3.6), waking up too early (aOR = 2.7), excessive daytime sleepiness (aOR = 2.3), and poor daytime function (aOR = 8.7) but no relationship with perinatal outcomes. In contrast, prepregnancy snoring was related to chronic hypertension, preterm delivery, and fetal growth restriction (aOR = 2.6, aOR = 2.8, and aOR = 5.1, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Sleep-wake disturbances confer a significant burden to pregnant non-Hispanic Black women, an infrequently studied yet disproportionately affected population. Contributions of maternal sleep to racial disparities in perinatal health should be a priority for public health research.

CITATION

White KM, Dunietz GL, Pitts DS, Kalmbach DA, Lucchini M, O'Brien LM. Burden of sleep disturbance in non-Hispanic Black pregnant women. 2022;18(5):1319-1325.