The Relationship between Sleep Duration and Glucose Challenge Test Results in Pregnant Women without Risk Factors of Diabetes

Sleep disturbances during pregnancy are prevalent due to physical and hormonal changes. Insufficient sleep causes metabolic and neuroendocrine alterations that may contribute to impaired glucose metabolism and insulin resistance. There is little information about association between insufficient sleep and glucose metabolism during pregnancy. So، this study was done to investigate the relationship between sleep duration and results of glucose challenge test in pregnancy.

This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 177 pregnant women who referred to Iran، Mashhad health center n: 3 in 2012. Participants were selected through available sampling method. All participants completed demographic questionnaire، depression، anxiety، stress scale 21 and Pittsburgh sleep quality index during 26-30 weeks of their pregnancy، then they undergo glucose challenge test. Short sleep duration was defined as less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 11. 5 and Pearson correlation test، Mann-whitney، independent t test and chi-square tests. P value less than 0. 05 was considered significant.

87 women (49. 2%) had short sleep duration. Variables such as stress، anxiety، diet and exercise had no significant differences between two groups (p>0. 05). There was a significant inverse correlation between sleep duration and results of glucose challenge test (r=-0. 19، p=0. 01). Impaired glucose challenge test was significantly more prevalent in participants with short sleep duration (p=0. 01).

Short sleep duration is associated with impaired glucose metabolism in pregnancy and health care providers are advised to screen for sleep duration and quality.