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 "Low birth weight is one of the feared outcomes of pregnancy, and
novel insight into risk factors is welcome," said Dr. Ghada
Bourjeily, a sleep researcher at Brown University's Warren Alpert
Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island, who wasn't involved in
the study.
"Sleep, its quality, and duration are emerging as risk factors for
various perinatal complications," Bourjeily said in an email.
Low birth weight, defined as less than 5.5 pounds (2500 grams), is
associated with adverse health outcomes in childhood and adulthood,
including respiratory illnesses, diabetes and hypertension. In the
U.S., about 8 percent of babies have low birth weight, according to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lulu Song of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in
Wuhan and colleagues analyzed information from more than 10,000
women who were participating in the 2012-2014 Healthy Baby Cohort
study in China. The group included 442 women who had low birth
weight babies, the authors reported in the journal Sleep Medicine.
Compared to mothers who reported no napping, women who took naps of
roughly an hour to an hour and a half were about 29 percent less
likely to have a baby with low birth weight.
The frequency of napping also seemed to play a role: women who
napped on five to seven days per week were 22 percent less likely to
have a baby with low birth weight.
The study wasn't a controlled experiment and so it can't prove that
pregnant mothers' nap habits affect babies' birth weight.
Still, the findings add "another piece of the puzzle as to why we
should be aware about sleep practices during pregnancy," said Dr.
Louise O'Brien of the University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center
in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who wasn't involved in the study.
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O'Brien, who researches sleep disruption during pregnancy and
perinatal outcomes, told Reuters Health by email, "Many sleep
behaviors are modifiable, and if napping is a risk for poor
outcomes, then we need to understand why that is."
O'Brien said future studies should track actual sleep duration,
rather than self-reported sleep, as well as the quality of sleep and
sleep position.
Sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea, may restrict
oxygen flow to the baby and cause cardiovascular problems for the
mother later in life.
"Sleep is another vital sign that we should measure. Pregnant women
shouldn't get unnecessarily tested for sleep disorders, but sleep in
general is highly underrated, especially in the United States," said
Dr. Suzanne Karan of the University of Rochester Medical Center in
New York, who also wasn't involved in the study.
Karan's team is studying whether pregnant women who are at risk for
low birth weight babies and show signs of sleep apnea can use CPAP
treatment to improve both their own health and their baby's health
at birth.
"This napping study is another signal that paying attention to sleep
is an important part of your overall pregnancy health," Karan told
Reuters Health by phone. "Pregnancy is like a stress test that shows
what health problems you could have later in life, so it's important
to pay attention and treat it now."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2wFx1v3 Sleep Medicine, online April 27, 2018.
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