SURVEYING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SLEEP APNEA AND PRETERM BIRTH IN WOMEN REFERRING TO HEALTH CENTERS OF ARDABIL

Preterm delivery is an important determinant of prenatal period that happened in
5-12% of pregnancies. Studies have shown that one of the risk factors is sleep and sleep related disorder
like sleep apnea .This study was conducted to determine the relationship between sleep apnea (OSA) on
spontaneous preterm birth in Ardabil city.
Materials & Methods: We performed an analytical cohort study, screening 234 pregnant women in 28-
32 weeks for OSA symptoms. The multistage sampling methods were used and subjects were enrolled
into two groups (118 subjects without sleep apnea and 116 subjects with sleep apnea), then, followed
for the occurrence of preterm delivery .The data were collected using demographic and obstetrics
questionnaire, Berlin questionnaires and Epworth sleepiness scale, and were analyzed with SPSS.
Result: Accordingly, 28 (65.1%) subjects with sleep apnea and 15 (47.2%) in the group without sleep
apnea had preterm birth and there was a significant difference between groups (p<0.03). OSA was
associated with an increased risk of PTB (OR= 2.08; 95% CI, 1.04–4.16). An important association was
found between preterm birth and variables such as snoring frequency, sleep time ≤8 hours (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Pregnancies complicated by OSA are at increased risk for preterm birth