Sleep habits may affect stillbirth risk
Wednesday June 15th, 2011
The ideal sleeping position for pregnant women is on the left side, according to findings published today.
This
position avoids potential restricted blood flow to the foetus when lying
on the back or right side for long periods.
Tomasina Stacey of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and colleagues investigated whether snoring, sleep position, or other sleep practices are linked to stillbirth.
They compared 155 women who had a stillbirth at 28 weeks or later against 310 similar women who did not. There was no link between snoring or daytime sleepiness and stillbirth.
Not sleeping on the left side was associated with roughly double the risk of stillbirth, although the rate remained low, at just under four in a thousand.
The researchers also found that women who got up to go to the bathroom more than in the night were slightly less likely to experience a stillbirth, according to the report in the British Medical Journal.
"This is the first study to report maternal sleep related practices as risk factors for stillbirth, and these findings require urgent confirmation in further studies," say the researchers.
They add: "If our findings are confirmed, promoting optimal sleep position in late pregnancy may have the potential to reduce the incidence of late stillbirth."
"Further research is needed," states Dr Lucy Chappell of King's College London, UK, in a commentary.
Although "any simple intervention that reduces the risk of stillbirth would be extremely welcome", "a forceful campaign urging pregnant women to sleep on their left side is not yet warranted," she concludes.
Chappell, L. C. and Smith, C. S. Should pregnant women sleep on their left? The British Medical Journal, 2011;342:d3659.
Tags: Australia | Childbirth and Pregnancy | UK News | Women’s Health & Gynaecology
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