Volume 30, Issue 2 e13047
REGULAR RESEARCH PAPER

Maternal perinatal depression and infant sleep problems at 1 year of age: Subjective and actigraphy data from a population-based birth cohort study

Camila S. Halal

Corresponding Author

Camila S. Halal

PhD Program of Medicine and Health Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

Conceição Hospital Group, Hospital Criança Conceição, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Correspondence

Camila dos Santos El Halal, Gerência de Internação, Hospital Criança Conceição, Avenida Francisco Trein, 596, CEP 91350-200, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.

Email: [email protected]

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Diego G. Bassani

Diego G. Bassani

Centre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

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Iná S. Santos

Iná S. Santos

Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

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Luciana Tovo-Rodrigues

Luciana Tovo-Rodrigues

Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

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Bianca Del-Ponte

Bianca Del-Ponte

Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

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Mariangela F. Silveira

Mariangela F. Silveira

Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

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Andréa D. Bertoldi

Andréa D. Bertoldi

Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

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Fernando C. Barros

Fernando C. Barros

Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

Graduate Studies Program in Health and Behaviour, Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

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Magda L. Nunes

Magda L. Nunes

Division of Neurology, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul School of Medicine, Brain Institute (BRAIns), Porto Alegre, Brazil

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First published: 14 April 2020
Citations: 18

Abstract

This study used data from 2,222 mothers and infants participating in a population-based birth cohort to verify whether maternal depression in the perinatal period was associated with poor infant sleep. Mothers who scored ≥13 points on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at 16–24 weeks of gestation and/or 3 months after delivery were considered perinatally depressed. The main outcome variable was poor infant sleep at 12 months of age, defined as >3 night wakings, nocturnal wakefulness >1 hr or total sleep duration <9 hr. Infant sleep data were obtained with the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ) and 24-hr actigraphy monitoring. Prevalence of perinatal depression in the sample was 22.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 20.5–24.0). After Poisson regression, infants of depressed mothers showed an adjusted relative risk (RR) of 1.44 (95% CI, 1.00–2.08; p = .04) for >3 night wakings with questionnaire-derived data. When actigraphy data were analysed, no association was found between perinatal depression and poor infant sleep (adjusted RR, 1.20; 95% CI, 0.82–1.74; p = .35). In conclusion, although mothers in the depressed group were more likely to report more night wakings, objective data from actigraphy did not replicate this finding. Dysfunctional cognition, maternal behavioural factors and sleep impairment associated with perinatal depression may affect the mother's impression of her infant's sleep.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors have indicated that they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

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