Trajectories of sleep quality and associations with excessive gestational weight gain during pregnancy

Poor sleep and excessive weight gain of pregnant women are associated with maternal outcomes. However, it's unknown regarding their effects of each other in pregnant women. This cohort study aimed to identify the trajectories of sleep quality and their associations with excessive gestational weight gain during pregnancy. Data of 403 pregnant women were collected at three visiting points: early pregnancy, between 10 and 17 weeks, mid-pregnancy, between 18 and 21 weeks, and late pregnancy: 28-32 weeks of pregnancy. Sleep quality was examined by the Pittsburgh sleep quality index. A semiparametric mixture model was used to estimate the patterns of sleep quality throughout the pregnancy. Two trajectories were identified as good-to-poor group (76.42%) and constant poor group (23.57%), respectively. It was observed that poor sleep quality was associated with excessive gestational weight gain in both groups. Poor sleep quality during late pregnancy in good-to-poor group predicted excessive gestational weight gain (adjusted Odds Ratio 3.47, 95% CI 1.25, 9.62). In contrast, the relationship was established even at mid-pregnancy in constant poor group (adjusted Odds Ratio 3.12, 95% CI 1.06, 9.19). Results from this study showed that most of pregnant women reported decreased sleep quality, however, a minority reported stable-poor sleep quality throughout pregnancy. Poor sleep quality was associated with excessive gestational weight gain during pregnancy. In comparison, those pregnant women with stable-poor sleep quality had a greater risk to get excessive gestational weight gain.