Snoring, Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension, and Growth Retardation of the Fetus

Our purpose was to study therelationship between snoring and pregnancy-induced hypertension andgrowth retardation of the fetus. Retrospective, cross-sectional, consecutive case series. The Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden. On the day ofdelivery, 502 women with singleton pregnancies completed aquestionnaire about snoring, witnessed sleep apneas, and daytimefatigue. Data concerning medical complications were taken from thewomen's casebooks. During the last weekof pregnancy, 23% of the women reported snoring every night. Only 4%reported snoring before becoming pregnant. Hypertension developed in14% of snoring women, compared with 6% of nonsnorers (p < 0.01).Preeclampsia occurred in 10% of snorers, compared with 4% ofnonsnorers (p < 0.05). An Apgar score ≤ 7 was more common ininfants born to habitual snorers. Growth retardation of the fetus, defined as small for gestational age at birth, had occurred in 7.1% ofthe infants of snoring mothers and 2.6% of the remaining infants(p < 0.05). Habitual snoring was independently predictive ofhypertension (odds ratio [OR], 2.03; p < 0.05) and growthretardation (OR, 3.45; p < 0.01) in a logistic regression analysiscontrolling for weight, age, andsmoking. Snoring is common inpregnancy and is a sign of pregnancy-induced hypertension. Snoringindicates a risk of growth retardation of the fetus.