Determinants of Insomnia among Mothers during Postpartum Period in Northwest Ethiopia

Postpartum period is a state of instability that may be accompanied by mood liability, anxiety, insomnia, and neuropsychiatric disturbance in women. This neuropsychiatric disturbance has a negative influence on the child's psychological and physical development. Our aim was to see the level of sleep difficulties among postpartum mothers in three obstetric care settings in Ethiopia.

Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted at one referral hospital and two health centers. A total of 988 postpartum mothers had been interviewed for sleep difficulties by using Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Adjusted Odd Ratio (AOR) and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were used and P-value <0.05 was used for indicating significant variables.

The prevalence of sleep difficulty between four to six weeks of postpartum period was 21.8% (215/988). Marital status of divorced/widowed/separated [AOR= 2.29, 95% CI (1.40, 6.08)], no educational opportunity [AOR= 2.35, 95% CI (1.57, 3.51)], having poor social support [AOR=2.82, 95% CI (1.63, 4.88)], alcohol use [AOR=1.58, 95% CI (1.13, 2.22)], history of depression [AOR=1.93, 95% CI (1.13, 3.31)], and who has poor support from husband [AOR=1.94, 95% CI (1.18, 3.18)] had association with sleep difficulty.

There is a high magnitude of sleep difficulties during four to six weeks of postpartum period in postpartum mothers and they are associated with many preventable risk factors.