Sleep quality and new onset postpartum hypertension

Background: Chronic sleep deficiency is a stressful situation which has an association with high blood pressure. After delivery, mothers have disrupted sleep due to frequent awakenings by their infants. What is not known is how significant this relationship is in women during the postpartum period as well as other factors that may affect their Sleep quality. Sleep quality is a measure of duration and disruption. Aim and Objectives: Study is aimed at determining the relationship between Sleep quality and new onset postpartum hypertension. The specific objectives are; to determine the Sleep quality of mothers in the postpartum period using the Pittsburgh Sleep quality index (PSQI), identify factors that affect Sleep quality of mothers in the post-partum period and determine blood pressure patterns of mothers in the postpartum period. Materials and Methods: This was a longitudinal study. Using systematic random sampling, a sample size of 126 women were recruited between June and August 2016 in the Postnatal clinic of the 37 Military Hospital. Written consent was obtained from participants. Sitting blood pressure was checked and recorded and a modified form of the Pittsburgh Sleep quality index (PSQI) was used to assign a global score for Sleep quality. A global score of more than 5 indicated poor Sleep quality in that mother. Clients were first recruited at the 1st postnatal visit with follow-up at the 2nd routine postnatal visit (6weeks). Only mothers whose blood pressures were normal during pregnancy and upon discharge from hospital were included. For categorical data, Pearson's chisquare test was used for comparisons and logistic regression as used to determine significant factors that contribute to new onset hypertension in postpartum women. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Majority of mothers (92.1% and 90.5% at first and second visits respectively) had poor Sleep quality. Mothers who slept away from their babies at the sixth week visit had better sleep. Mean global Sleep quality scores had no significant association with new onset hypertension but mean scores of some Age , p=0.001, OR =1.20 (C.I: 1.09-1.32) and some sleep components sleep disturbance, p=0.041, OR =1.86(C.I: 1.02-3.37), and use of sleep medicine, p=0.031, OR =1.54 (C.I:1.04- 2.29) were significantly associated with new onset postpartum hypertension. Conclusion: Global poor Sleep quality is not associated with increased odds of new onset hypertension but the Sleep quality components, sleep disturbance and increased use of sleep medicine, were significantly associated with new onset hypertension in mothers

Quality of sleep and psychological distress in glaucoma

Background: People living with glaucoma are psychologically burdened because of the threat of visual loss. Therefore, understanding the psychosocial issues and quality of sleep holds important implications for the recognition, prevention, and treatment of emotional problems among people with glaucoma. This study investigated the quality of sleep and psychological distress among people with glaucoma.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of adults recruited over a period of 12 weeks from a glaucoma clinic of a Teaching Hospital in south-west Nigeria. The quality of sleep and psychological distress were evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and General Health Questionnaire respectively.Results: Ninety-three adults with glaucoma participated in the study. The mean age was 62.33 ± 15.25 years. Fifty-seven (61.3%) of the subjects were poor sleepers while 27 (29.0%) were psychologically distressed. Psychological distress correlated with global sleep score (r = 0.399, p = 0.000), subjective sleep quality (r = 0.341, p = 0.001), sleep latency (r = 0.245, p = 0.018) and sleep disturbance (r = 0.279, p = 0.007).Conclusion: Psychological distress and sleep disturbances were common among patients with glaucoma. Concerns about these issues should be incorporated into routine clinical evaluations of patients with glaucoma