Lack of sleep, reduced physical activity may increase risks of premature birth

Lack of sleep and reduced physical activity during pregnancy may increase the risk of premature birth according to a studyThe team used a machine learning ML algorithm to detect finegrained changes in sleep and physical activity patterns of 1000 women whose data was collected by devices worn by them throughout pregnancyWe showed that an artificial intelligence algorithm can build a lsquoclockrsquo of physical activity and sleep during pregnancy and can tell how far along a patientrsquos pregnancy is but some patients donrsquot follow that clock When patientsrsquo sleep and activity levels donrsquot change on a typical trajectory the study showed its a warning sign for premature birthrdquo said Nima Aghaeepour Associate Professor of anesthesiology perioperative and pain medicine and of paediatrics at Stanford School of MedicineThe study published in the journal npj Digital Medicine also identified a variety of risk factors for premature delivery including greater levels of inflammation in the pregnant woman specific immunesystem changes higher levels of stress history of having a preterm birth and certain types of bacteria in the motherrsquos microbiomeOur patient population experiences a lot of adversity and our preterm birth rates are much higher than at Stanford said coauthor Sarah England Professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St LouisThe study participants included women experiencing a variety of stressors linked with higher rates of preterm birth such as racism low socioeconomic status and living in areas with higher crime rates said EnglandSurprisingly sleeping better and being more physically active than usual for her stage of pregnancy was linked with a 48 per cent reduction in risk for preterm delivery Conversely if a woman was sleeping worse and being less physically active than usual for her stage of pregnancy her risk for preterm delivery was 44 per cent higher than for pregnant women with typical sleep and activity patternsThe results suggest that scientists should run studies to test whether tracking and modifying pregnant womenrsquos sleep or physical activity could lower their prematurity risk Itrsquos telling us where to go for future interventions said AghaeepourThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever