poor maternal sleep health adversely affects neonatal and pregnancy outcomes: an important ignored health issue in prenatal care

Background & objective: pregnancy is an exceptionally delicate time in the lives of most women. sleep disorders during pregnancy can substantially impact a healthy pregnancy. this study investigated the relationship between sleep quality during pregnancy and adverse maternal and fetal pregnancy outcomes. materials & methods: this was a prospective cohort study on 500 pregnant women referred to the perinatology clinic. the pittsburgh sleep quality index questionnaire was used to evaluate sleep quality, and demographic data were collected from the case files of routine prenatal checkups. the study participants were followed until delivery. the association between sleep quality and postpartum complications, such as preterm birth, infant apgar score, and (neonatal intensive care unit) nicu admission, was investigated. results: this study included 500 pregnant women with a mean age of 31.12 ± 5.84 years. the number of pregnancies ranged from one to seven, with a mean of 2.55±1.30. of the infants, 12% of infants were born prematurely and 27.8% required nicu admission. poor sleep quality was found to be associated with preterm delivery (or: 1.27, p = 0.039) and preeclampsia (or: 0.543, p = 0.004). women who experienced preeclampsia during pregnancy (p = 0.01), delivered via cesarean section (p = 0.009), and had infants weighing more than 2500 g (p = 0.07) exhibited significantly poorer sleep quality. conclusion: we found that poor sleep quality was associated with preterm birth, cesarean section delivery, maternal preeclampsia risk, and the 5-minute apgar score. considering the impact of a mother’s sleep quality on pregnancy outcomes, assessing mothers' sleep health appears essential in prenatal care.