Moms-to-be, please note! Pregnant women who snore have a higher risk of poor delivery outcomes, including Cesarean births and delivering smaller babies, new research has warned.
Researchers from the University of Michigan Health System found snoring at least three nights a week may influence delivery and baby's health.
The study is believed to be the largest of its kind to link maternal snoring to baby health by following moms from pregnancy through delivery.
Chronic snorers (moms who snored before and during pregnancy) are two thirds more likely to have a baby that is born below the tenth percentile for babies of the same gestational age (smaller than 90 per cent of other babies the same gestation) compared to non-snorers.
They are also more than twice as likely to need an elective C-section, researchers found.
"We've found that chronic snoring is associated with both smaller babies and C-sections, even after we accounted for other risk factors," said lead author Louise O'Brien, associate professor at U-M's Sleep Disorders Center in the Department of Neurology and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the U-M Medical School.
"This suggests that we have a window of opportunity to screen pregnant women for breathing problems during sleep that may put them at risk of poor delivery outcomes," O'Brien said.
Timing of snoring patterns also made a difference in outcomes, researchers found. Chronic snorers who snored before and during pregnancy had the highest risks, being more likely to have smaller babies and elective C-sections.
Meanwhile, those who started snoring only during pregnancy had higher risk of both elective and emergency C-sections than women who did not snore.
The study included 1,673 pregnant women who were recruited from prenatal clinics at U-M between 2007 and 2010, with 35 per cent of the women reporting habitual snoring.
Snoring is a key sign of obstructive sleep apnea, a sleep-related breathing problem that can reduce blood oxygen levels during the night and has already been associated with serious, expensive health conditions.
Pregnant women can be treated for obstructive sleep apnea using CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). The method involves a machine worn during sleep that uses air pressure to keep the airways open, researchers said.
The study was published in the journal Sleep.
