Is there any Correlation of Sleep Quality with Postpartum Depression in Mothers of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Admitted Babies

Abstract

Abstract Background: Sleep quality is very much affected in mothers in the postpartum period. Despite the high prevalence of poor sleep quality in the postpartum period, little effort is done in this field to help such mothers which is very much needed if their babies are admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) which is an additional factor for their disturbed sleep. Aim and Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess the quality of sleep and depression in mothers whose babies are admitted to the NICU by way of a cross-sectional study. Methodology: This protocol tried to examine the research question whether there is any correlation between the quality of sleep and depression in mothers who had their delivery in a tertiary teaching hospital and whose babies were admitted to NICU for more than 7 days. This relationship, if any, was assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) questionnaire whose domain is to find out any correlation between sleep quality and risk of postpartum depression. Observations: Out of 106 mothers, 68 were primiparous and 38 were multiparous. Out of these mothers, 54% of mothers had EPDS score of >10 and the rest had score of <10. A total score >10 has been validated to have a strong predictive value for detecting women at risk for developing postpartum depression. Furthermore, it was found that as the duration of stay of babies increases in NICU, the number of mothers with EPDS score >10 increases which were found to be statistically significant. Conclusion and Recommendations: Poor sleep quality is very common in the postpartum period, especially in females whose babies are admitted to NICU. The longer the stay of babies in NICU, worse the quality of sleep is. Hence, it should be kept in mind when the babies are admitted to NICU, some sort of support both psychological and medical should be available at hand for the mothers to cope with such a beautiful albeit stressful period of their lives and if detected to provide necessary treatment in time.