Snoring and Blood Pressure in Third-Trimester Normotensive Pregnant Women

© 2018 Sigma Theta Tau International Purpose: To examine the association between snoring, sleep quality, quantity, and blood pressure in third-trimester normotensive pregnant women. Design: This study was a cross-sectional analysis of two cohorts of healthy pregnant women recruited from a prenatal clinic in a medical center in Northern Taiwan. Methods: A total of 322 women reported sociodemographic and health characteristics in a structured interview and wore a wrist actigraph on their nondominant wrist for 7 consecutive days to assess objective sleep patterns. The women's resting blood pressures were measured while seated in the clinic by trained personnel using an electronic sphygmomanometer. Findings: One hundred thirty-three (41.3%) women reported snoring. Ninety-three women (28.9%) had <6 hr of nighttime sleep, with only 95 (29.5%) women averaging 7 or more hours of nighttime sleep. In the univariate analyses, snoring was positively associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as mean arterial pressure levels (p <.05). In the multivariate analyses, snoring remained as a significant predictor of higher diastolic blood pressure (β = 2.07, p <.05) and mean arterial pressure levels (β = 2.00, p <.05), after adjustment for age, parity, gestational age, body mass index before pregnancy, and sleep quantity and quality by actigraphy. Conclusions: Snoring is a highly prevalent condition experienced by healthy third-trimester pregnant women and is associated with elevated blood pressure. Clinical Relevance: Clinical assessment and screening of snoring are of utmost importance in obstetric nursing practice to potentially prevent or reduce the associated adverse cardiovascular consequences in women during pregnancy.