Abstract Study objectives Anxiety is common during the perinatal period and is associated with adverse maternal and infant outcomes, highlighting a need to identify predictors of perinatal anxiety. Accumulating research implicates sleep disruption in perinatal anxiety and related symptoms, including obsessive-compulsive symptoms. We examined the associations among insomnia symptoms and sleep duration with perinatal anxiety, obsessive beliefs, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and the moderating role of coping from pregnancy through postpartum. Methods A sample of 231 women (agemean = 32.97 ± 4.36 years; 74% white) completed interview and self-report measures of sleep, coping, perinatal anxiety, obsessive beliefs, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in early and late pregnancy, 6 weeks postpartum, and 6 months postpartum. Multilevel models were used for data analysis. Results Shorter sleep duration predicted increases in subsequent perinatal anxiety (B = -.63, p .05) and obsessive beliefs (B = -2.17, p .05), whereas perinatal anxiety and related symptoms did not predict subsequent sleep disruption (p’s .05). Those who reported higher insomnia symptoms and shorter sleep duration reported higher perinatal anxiety (B = 1.19, p .001; B = -3.18, p .001), obsessive beliefs (B = 3.42, p .001; B = -11.57, p .001), and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (B = .69, p .001; B = -1.94, p .001) on average. The relation between insomnia symptoms and perinatal anxiety was moderated by coping (B = -.18, p .01). Conclusions These findings suggest that sleep disruption is a modifiable risk factor for perinatal anxiety and related symptoms.
Cox et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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