Association between quality of sleep and depression in postpartum women

Abstract

Depression and sleep disturbance are comorbid and interconnected conditions, and sleep disturbance is often a predecessor of, as well as a negative prognostic factor for depression. It is important to discover maternal sleep instabilities and depression because of its adverse consequence upon both the mother and the baby. Without support or treatment the consequences may be continued and expensive for the women, for their families and in terms of demands made on health care resources. Sleep disturbance and depression in mother may likewise influence the child’s cognitive, emotional, and social development. This cross- sectional study aimed to identify the association between postnatal sleep disturbance and depression. This cross-sectional study was done in 30 women who gave birth to a live child within 1month, residing in Mangaluru city. Questionnaires (Pittsburgh sleep quality index and Edinburgh postnatal depression scale) were directly given to the women and results were recorded. Karl Pearson Correlation was done to estimate the association between postpartum sleep disturbance and depression, a high correlation was estimated between the variables (r=0.833). The correlation was statistically significant (p=0.000). The association of both postpartum depression and low sleep quality were relatively high in this study population. There is a significant correlation between sleep disturbance and postpartum depression.