The Relationship Between Sleep Quality During Pregnancy with the Duration of Delivery and Labor Pain

Abstract

Background: Poor sleep quality leads to interventions during labor, more fatigue during labor, decreased tolerance to pain, prolonged duration of delivery, and impaired quality of life and health. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sleep quality during pregnancy on labor pain and duration of delivery. Methods: This study is descriptive based on repeated measurements. The sample consisted of 75 pregnant women. A personal information form, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and Visual Analog Scale-Pain were used to collect the data. Medians, standard deviations, frequency, percentages, minimum, maximum, Fisher’s exact test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used for data analysis. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was used to assess the reliability of the scales. Results: Sleep quality was poor in 89.3% of the women. Back, waist, and leg pain during pregnancy negatively affected sleep quality. The duration of the second stage of labor was shorter in pregnant women who had poor sleep quality. It was seen that daytime sleepiness and sleep duration did not affect the length of labor. No significant difference was found between labor pain and daytime sleepiness, and sleep quality. Conclusions: Sleep quality deteriorated during pregnancy. Sleep quality affected the duration of the second stage of labor. Sleep quality and daytime sleepiness did not affect labor pain.