Objective To assess and correlate sleep quality and depressed mood symptoms in the late pregnancy and early postpartum periods.

Study Design In a prospective pilot observational study, participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) questionnaires at delivery, 1, and 2 months postpartum. Pearson's correlation coefficients and PROC MIXED function estimated overall correlation for repeated measures.

Results Twenty-six women were enrolled with a mean gestational age at delivery of 38.4 (± 2.4) weeks. Sleep quality and mood data were available at the three time points for 24, 16, and 11 participants, respectively. Poor sleep scores were noted by 75.0, 87.5, and 72.7% of women at the three time points. An elevated EPDS score of 10 or higher was claimed by 20.8, 12.5, and 18.2% of women, respectively. Higher PSQI scores were positively associated with higher EPDS scores overall (r = 0.71, p < 0.001) and at each of the individual time points (r = 0.79, p < 0.0001; r = 0.52, p = 0.04; and r = 0.70, p = 0.016, respectively). None of the women reporting good sleep quality had elevated EPDS scores.

Conclusion Poor sleep is commonly reported around delivery, and at 1 and 2 months postpartum, and there is an association between poor sleep and depression symptoms.

Received: 26 October 2023

Accepted: 20 October 2023

Article published online:
23 January 2024

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