Association between sleep duration during pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis

Sleep is critical for glucose metabolism. Pregnant women often have sleep disturbances and extreme sleep duration. Investigations of the relationship between sleep duration during pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have reported inconsistent results. The present study aimed to meta-analyze the relationship between sleep duration during pregnancy and GDM risk.

We performed a systematic search of the PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and PsycINFO databases for studies that were published up to October 2017, that reported associations between sleep duration during pregnancy and GDM risk. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated as the effect sizes for all studies. Heterogeneity and potential publication biases were assessed.

A total of 4366 papers were retrieved, among which seven studies assessed the relationship between sleep duration during pregnancy and GDM development. The seven articles included 18,203 subjects at baseline and 1294 GDM cases during follow-up. Compared to normal sleep duration, extreme sleep duration during early and middle pregnant stages had a close relationship with GDM based upon pooled data from prospective and cross-sectional studies. Prospective results showed that long sleep duration during pregnancy was a risk factor for GDM, but not short sleep duration. Publication biases were found when analyzing the relationship between extreme sleep duration and GDM.

Extreme sleep duration during pregnancy is closely associated with GDM. Moreover, long but not short sleep duration can predict the risk of developing GDM. These findings remind us of the importance of sleep duration control during pregnancy and help optimize early strategies for the prevention of GDM.