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Sleep-disordered breathing and upper airway size in pregnancy and post-partum

¹ Depts of *Sleep Medicine, and ² Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

CORRESPONDENCE: N. J. Douglas, Respiratory Medicine, Royal Infirmary, 51 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH16 4SA, UK. Fax: 44 1312421776. E-mail: n.j.douglas{at}ed.ac.uk

Keywords: Post-partum, sleep-disordered breathing, snoring, third trimester, upper airway

Received: December 26, 2004
Accepted September 28, 2005

Sleep-disordered breathing and snoring are common in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to determine whether pregnancy was associated with upper airway narrowing.

One-hundred females in the third trimester of pregnancy were recruited and 50 agreed to be restudied 3 months after delivery. One-hundred nonpregnant females were also recruited. Upper airway dimensions were measured using acoustic reflection.

Snoring was less common in nonpregnant (17%) than pregnant females (41%; odds ratio (OR) 3.34; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.65–6.74) and returned to nonpregnant levels after delivery (18%; OR 0.15; 95% CI 0.06–0.40). Pregnant females had significantly smaller upper airways than nonpregnant females at the oropharyngeal junction when seated (mean difference 0.12; 95% CI 0.008–0.25), and smaller mean pharyngeal areas in the seated (mean difference 0.14; 95% CI 0.001–0.28), supine (mean difference 0.11; 95% CI 0.01–0.22) and lateral postures (mean difference 0.13; 95% CI 0.02–0.24) compared with the nonpregnant females. Pregnant females had smaller mean pharyngeal areas compared with post-partum in the seated (mean difference 0.18; 95% CI 0.02–0.32), supine (mean difference 0.20; 95% CI 0.06–0.35) and lateral postures (mean difference 0.26; 95% CI 0.12–0.39).

In conclusion, this study confirmed increased snoring and showed narrower upper airways during the third trimester of pregnancy.

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