- Explain to patients that cigarette smoking during pregnancy poses risks to both the mother and the baby, and that this study suggests that exposure to passive or second-hand smoke, most often from a smoking spouse, can further disrupt the already disturbed sleep of pregnant women.
- Point out that due to its cross-sectional design the study cannot determine causality.
TOKYO, Sept. 4 -- Second-hand cigarette smoke can exacerbate the sleep disturbances of pregnant women, investigators here found in two surveys of nearly 36,000 women.
Non-smokers exposed to passive tobacco smoke had an occurrence rate of common sleep disturbances midway between that of pregnant smokers and non-smokers who avoided passive smoke, reported Takashi Ohida, M.D., of Nihon University in Tokyo, and colleagues, in the September issue of Sleep.
"The relationship between passive smoking exposure and some negative health outcomes in pregnant women could therefore be mediated by the ability of passing smoke to disrupt sleep," they wrote.
They recommended educating patients about the adverse effects of passive smoking during pregnancy, including the exacerbation of problems with sleep hygiene.