WEDNESDAY, Sept. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women who are exposed to secondhand smoke have more sleep disturbances, such as problems initiating sleep and staying asleep, than pregnant women who are not exposed to smoke, according to a report in the September issue of Sleep.
Takashi Ohida, M.D., of Nihon University in Tokyo, Japan, and colleagues conducted a study of two groups of pregnant women surveyed in Japan: 16,396 in 2002 and 19,386 in 2006.
Pregnant women exposed to environmental smoke were more prone to five types of sleep disturbance than those who were not exposed to smoke, including insufficient sleep, difficulty in getting to sleep, short sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, and loud snoring/uncomfortable breathing. The prevalence of these sleep disturbances among non-smokers who were exposed to environmental smoke was halfway between that of smokers and non-smokers who were not exposed to environment smoke, the investigators found.
Passive smoking was an independent risk factor for sleep troubles, regardless of other factors, such as nocturia, lower back pain and fetal movements.
"Educational programs that point out the adverse effects of passive smoking during pregnancy could help improve sleep hygiene in this group of individuals and help prevent other negative health outcomes associated with disturbed sleep," the authors conclude.
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