Objective  To understand and analyse its characteristics of the sleep quality in pregnant women with depression.   Methods  Forty-five pregnant women with depression and 45 matched healthy pregnant women who had pregnancy check-ups in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of our Hospital from June 2007 to June 2008 were enrolled in this study. All of them were informed of the purpose of this study and signed an informed consent form. The protocol and consent form were approved by the Ethics Committee of our university. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and  polysomonography (PSG) were performed in all subjects.   Results  In pregnant women with depression

the total PSQI score was 11.46±4.78

and 93.3% of them had poor sleep quality. In the health control group

the total PSQI score was 6.35±3.28

and 26.7% had poor sleep quality. The depression group had higher score in sleep latency

sleep duration

sleep efficiency

sleep disturbance

day dysfunction and PSQI total score (P0.05). By comparing with control group

the depression group had shorter total sleep duration (P0.05)

longer in sleep latency (P0.01)

more waking frequency

and lower sleep efficiency (P0.05)

increased light sleep (S1)

but decreased deep sleep(S3 and S4). There was significant differences in the sleep periods of S1 and S3+S4 between 2 groups (P0.05

0.01). The depression group had shorter rapid eye movement (REM) sleep latency and prolonged REM time (P0.05).   Conclusion  Pregnant women with depression have poor sleep quality in both subjective and objective views

with the charateristics of difficult falling asleep

festless sleep

shorter REM sleep latency and longer REM time.