• Sofia A Olivarez, Bani Maheshwari, Meghan McCarthy, Nikolaos Zacharias, Ignatia van den Veyver, Lata Casturi, Haleh Sangi-Haghpeykar, and Kjersti Aagaard-Tillery.
• Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine, Ben Taub General Hospital, Houston, TX, USA.
• Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 2010 Jun 1; 202 (6): 552.e1-7.

ObjectiveObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) involves episodic nocturnal apneas. Using polysomnography, we examined the predictive capacity of screening questionnaires (Berlin) in pregnancy. Incorporating simultaneous fetal heart rate monitoring (FHM), we examined the association of maternal apnea with FHM abnormalities.Study DesignWe enrolled 100 pregnant women at 26-39 weeks of gestation with OSA screening and baseline data ascertainment who underwent polysomnography and FHM for > or =3 hours. The relationship between maternal characteristics, OSA, and FHM was explored with multivariate analyses that were controlled for potential confounders.ResultsWhen compared with polysomnography, sensitivity and specificity by Berlin screening was 35% and 63.8%, respectively; the snoring component of the Berlin correlated better with oxygen desaturation <95% (P = .003). Body mass index was a significant confounder (r(s) = 0.44; P < .0001). No association was observed between FHM abnormalities and OSA parameters.ConclusionIn pregnancy, the Berlin questionnaire poorly predicts OSA. It is unclear whether fetal compromise during maternal apnea is a mechanism in OSA that is related to pregnancy outcome.Copyright 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

19 keywords...

hide…