Despite prolonged and cumulative exposure during gestation, little is known about the fetal response to maternal sleep. Eighty-four pregnant women with obesity (based on pre-pregnancy BMI) participated in laboratory-based polysomnography (PSG) with continuous fetal electrocardiogram monitoring at 36 weeks gestation. Multilevel modeling revealed both correspondence and lack of it in maternal and fetal heart rate patterns. Fetal heart rate (fHR) and variability (fHRV), and maternal heart rate (mHR) and variability (mHRV), all declined during the night, with steeper rates of decline prior to 01:00. fHR declined upon maternal sleep onset but was not otherwise associated with maternal sleep stage; fHRV differed during maternal REM and NREM. There was frequent maternal waking after sleep onset (WASO) and fHRV and mHRV were elevated during these episodes. Cross-correlation analyses revealed little temporal coupling between maternal and fetal heart rate, except during WASO, suggesting that any observed associations in maternal and fetal heart rates during sleep are the result of other physiological processes. Implications of the maternal sleep context for the developing fetus are discussed, including the potential consequences of the typical sleep fragmentation that accompanies pregnancy.

中文翻译：

---

产妇睡眠时的胎心率

尽管在妊娠期间长期和累积暴露，但对胎儿对母体睡眠的反应知之甚少。84 名肥胖孕妇（基于孕前 BMI）参加了基于实验室的多导睡眠图（PSG），并在妊娠 36 周时连续监测胎儿心电图。多级建模揭示了母体和胎儿心率模式的一致性和缺乏一致性。胎儿心率 (fHR) 和变异性 (fHRV) 以及母体心率 (mHR) 和变异性 (mHRV) 均在夜间下降，在 01:00 之前下降幅度更大。fHR 在产妇睡眠开始时下降，但与产妇睡眠阶段无关；fHRV 在产妇 REM 和 NREM 期间不同。在这些发作期间，产妇经常在入睡后醒来 (WASO)，并且 fHRV 和 mHRV 升高。互相关分析显示，除了 WASO 期间，母体和胎儿心率之间几乎没有时间耦合，这表明在睡眠期间观察到的母体和胎儿心率的任何关联都是其他生理过程的结果。讨论了母体睡眠环境对发育中胎儿的影响，包括伴随怀孕的典型睡眠碎片的潜在后果。