Short Sleep In Pregnancy Associated With Gestational Diabetes

A study from Singapore has found another link between short sleep during pregnancy and gestational diabetes. This study is the first to establish a relationship between sleep duration and gestational diabetes mellitus in an Asian population. The study was published in the journal SLEEP.

It is suggested that addressing sleep issues during pregnancy could significantly reduce gestational diabetes risks. It's especially important that the study was conducted in Singapore, which has the world's second-highest proportion of diabetics in developed nations globally, including one of the highest rates of gestational diabetes.

Sleep is one factor affecting gestational diabetes with short sleep being a risk factor for most types of diabetes.

The study, conducted in collaboration between the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the Duke-NUS Medical School, correlated sleep glucose levels of participants of both Singaporean (Asian) and Caucasian (American) women who were pregnant. Glucose levels were measured and sleep questionnaires completed.


The study found not only differences between racial and cultural backgrounds and diabetes in pregnancy, but also between sleep amounts and rates of gestational diabetes. Of the 686 participants with measured glucose levels, 19 percent were diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Short sleep was well-associated with gestational diabetes with frequencies in women sleeping less than six hours per night being much higher (27.3 percent) than those with seven to eight hours' sleep per night (16.8 percent).

"Our results raise the possibility that good sleep habits could reduce the likelihood of developing hyperglycemia and GDM," said senior author Assoc Prof Gooley, from the Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders Programme at Duke-NUS.

Source: News-medical and Duke University


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