Can pregnant women accurately report snoring? A pilot study

Sleep-Disordered Breathing (SDB) has been associated with possible negative outcomes, such as preeclampsia and foetal growth restriction. SDB screening tools have been developed for use within general populations. These included the use of self-reports and objective measurements. Seventeen pregnant women within their 34th to 37th week of pregnancy were recruited. Participants undertook an overnight study within their home and SDB symptoms were monitored using the Watch-PAT 200 and an infra-red video camera. The women were administered an online questionnaire comprised of the Multivariable Apnea Risk Index (MAP Index) and the Basic Nordic Sleep Questionnaire (BNSQ). More than half of our participants (n = 10) were identified as snorers while much fewer (n = 4) met the current cut off for diagnosis of mild SDB. Investigation of concordance and predictive value of self-report measures compared to standard video-scoring and Watch-PAT 200 determined SDB indicators suggests that self-reports may not provide an accurate assessment of SBD symptoms in late pregnancy. Self-report in this study, resulted in an underestimation of the number of participants who experienced SDB symptoms. This was a pilot study, with a small sample size. However, our study lends weight to others that found poor predictive value of common scales to detect SDB in pregnancy. Future study is therefore needed to validate screening tools, which may need to be a combination of measures.