Chronodisruption may interfere with conception in women desiring pregnancy

Among women hoping to get pregnant, greater day-to-day variability in sleep onset and duration—both indicators of chronodisruption—are linked to a longer time to conception over a year of follow-up, as reported in a study.

For the study, 183 women had to wear actigraphy watches continuously for 2 weeks to assess measures of chronodisruption, including sleep period onset, offset, midtime, and duration. Researchers measured the variability in each of these measures.

The primary outcome measure was time to becoming pregnant over 1-year of follow-up.

Over a median follow-up of 2.8 months, pregnancy was achieved by 82 women. Notably, those with greater interdaily variability in time of sleep onset and in sleep duration took longer to conceive.

In an analysis adjusted for age, body mass index, race, education, income, and smoking status, a standard deviation of >1.8 vs <1.8 hr in daily time of sleep onset was associated with a 40-percent increase in the risk of longer time to conception (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.60, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.36–0.999).

Meanwhile, a standard deviation of >2.3 vs <2.3 hr in daily sleep duration was associated with a 42-percent risk increase (aHR, 0.58, 95 percent CI, 0.36–0.98).

There were no significant associations seen for average time of sleep onset and offset, midsleep time, and sleep duration, or for variability in time of sleep offset and midtime.

If replicated in additional studies, these findings could inform lifestyle interventions aimed at helping women achieve pregnancy, according to the researchers.