A relationship between the sleep behaviors of twin infants and their parents and the postnatal depression in infancy

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K24175
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0908:Society medicine, nursing, and related fields
• Research Institution: Sophia University
• Principal Investigator: Kondo Chie 上智大学, 総合人間科学部, 助手 (70845065)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 双生児 / 乳児 / 睡眠 / 母親 / 父親 / アクチグラフ / 産後うつ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aims of this study was to clarify the relationship between the sleep behaviors of twin infants and their parents and the postnatal depression. The sleep behaviors of the twin family and the single baby family at 2-4 months of age were measured simultaneously for 7 days using actigraphy. The night sleep efficiency of the father of single baby was around 90% during 2-4 months of age. While at the same time, the father of twin babies of that was around 70%. There were no difference of the night sleep efficiency among twin babies and single baby, twin mother and single mother. There was no person occurring the postnatal depression in the participants. Further studies are required to figure out the relationship between the sleep efficiency of the father of twin babies and the father of single baby.

Free Research Field

生涯発達看護学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

米国における研究では、双生児の父親は日中の睡眠で夜間の睡眠不足を取り戻している母親に比べて睡眠時間が短いことが明らかになっている（Damato E, 2008）。今回得られた結果から、我が国においても、子どもが1人であれば、父親の睡眠は大きな影響を受けることはないが、双生児では大きく関わることが示唆された。単胎、双生児どちらの父親も産後うつのスクリーニングは陰性であった。
双生児家庭においては、両親ともに睡眠不足が長期に渡り継続するため、母親だけでなく父親に対しても支援が必要であると考えられる。