Sleep characteristics in hospitalized antepartum patients

To describe sleep characteristics in high-risk antepartum inpatients.

Prospective descriptive design.

Tertiary hospital in southern California.

A convenience sample of 39 antepartum women.

Data were collected from participants' medical records, questionnaires (General Sleep Disturbance Scale), actigraphy on days 3 to 4 after admission, and a sleep diary that included reasons for awakening and morning and evening fatigue ratings.

Week gestation ranged from 24 to 35 weeks. Sleep time varied from 310 to 492 minutes and averaged 6.7 hours/night. The women were awakened 9 to 32 times/night and averaged 18 awakenings. They napped an average of 124 minutes throughout the day. Women averaged 3.9 on the General Sleep Disturbance Scale when retrospectively considering 7 days before hospitalization and scored 4.1 when considering the current 3 days of hospitalization. In the diary, most rated their sleep quality as Fairly Good or Very Good (62%-71%), but 29% said Very Bad on night 2, and 38% said Very Bad on night 3.

Frequent interruptions during the night do not allow for mothers to receive the restorative sleep they need.