Oh, here we go again with another groundbreaking study that’s going to change the world as we know it. This time, it’s all about how poor sleep quality in pregnant women might increase blood pressure. I mean, who would’ve thought, right?

So, these diligent researchers conducted the “Early Life Plan” project from June 2016 to December 2019. They used the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire to assess sleep patterns of pregnant women at 12-16 weeks of gestation. I mean, it’s not like pregnant women have anything better to do than fill out sleep questionnaires, right?

And guess what they found? Among 5532 eligible women, those with low sleep efficiency, long sleep duration, and snoring had significantly higher blood pressure in early gestation. I mean, it’s not like we didn’t know that poor sleep could affect health, but hey, let’s just confirm it again.

But wait, there’s more! They found that snoring in early gestation was independently associated with preeclampsia. The odds ratio (OR) was 1.72 for snoring once or twice per week and 2.06 for snoring three times or more per week. And it gets even better for term preeclampsia, with an OR of 1.79 and 2.26, respectively.

So, there you have it. If you’re pregnant and you snore, you might be at risk for preeclampsia. But don’t worry, it’s not like you’re already dealing with enough as it is. Just add this to your list of things to worry about. After all, who needs sleep when you’re growing a human, right?

Oh, look at this! Another study where we’ve discovered that inhaling toxic fumes and dust isn’t exactly a health spa treatment. Who would’ve thought, right?

So, we’ve got this group of US Veterans (1960 of them, to be precise) who were kind enough to fill out a questionnaire about their deployment experiences. They were asked about 32 different types of exposure, which we then grouped into six categories: burn pit smoke, other combustion sources, engine exhaust, mechanical and desert dusts, toxicants, and military job-related vapours, gas, dusts or fumes (VGDF).

We then scored their responses on a scale of 0 to 2, based on how often they were exposed. And because we love making things complicated, we did a factor analysis to reduce the items and consolidate the categories.

The average age of our participants was 40.7 years, and they were deployed for a median duration of 11.7 months. Surprise, surprise, a lot of them reported heavy exposure to things like burn pit smoke (72.7%) and VGDF (72.0%).

And here’s the real shocker: exposure to these things was associated with an increased odds of chronic respiratory symptoms. Burn pit smoke exposure was linked to dyspnoea (OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.06 to 1.47) and chronic bronchitis (OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.44). VGDF exposure was associated with dyspnoea (OR 1.29; 95% CI 1.14 to 1.58) and wheeze (OR 1.18; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.35).

So, in conclusion, inhaling toxic fumes and dust during deployment is bad for your lungs. Who knew?