CHALLENGES OF PREGNANCY: THE BODY, MIND AND SLEEP

AIMS / OBJECTIVES: To study the sleep quality, prevalence of depression and body image disturbances, correlation of depression with sleep quality & body image disturbances in pregnant women. METHODOLOGY: 146 pregnant females aged 18-45 years attending the ANC OPD of a tertiary care hospital were assessed for prevalence of depression, body image disturbances and sleep quality using Becks Depression Inventory (BDI), Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) respectively. RESULTS: Prevalence of depression was 22.60% with mean total BDI score of 8.67 ±14.04. Out of 146, 68 did not have any mood disturbances and the rest had clinical depression at varying severity. Prevalence of poor sleep quality was 46.57% with mean total PSQI score of 5.34 ±3.44, majority had insomnia in the form of difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep with frequent awakenings at night. There was a significant positive correlation between depression and poor sleep quality (correlation coefficient r = 0.6752, p value <0.0001). Prevalence of body image disturbances was 2.73% with mean total BICI score of 23.15 ±10.43. Significant positive correlation between body image disturbances and depression was observed (correlation coefficient r = 0.1854, p value: 0.00251). DISCUSSION: Estimated rates of depression during pregnancy range from 19-25% in developing countries and our study showed similar findings. We also found that poor sleep quality is common during pregnancy irrespective of gravida and trimesters. Similar findings were observed in a study done on pregnant women in China by Xianglong Xu et al. Changes in pregnancy especially weight gain is considered as a normal process which is reflected in our study. CONCLUSION: Depression along with poor sleep quality during pregnancy is prevalent among pregnant women and screening for depression should be a part of the routine during antenatal check-ups.