Abstract
Infants with unexplained apneic episodes (Near-Miss for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)), are presumably at increased risk of subsequently dying of SIDS. It has been proposed that these infants exhibit prolonged sleep apnea which contributes to the mechanism leading to death. The objective of this study was to document the incidence of apnea during sleep recordings in 16 Near-Miss infants and compare the findings with those obtained from age and sex matched controls. Polygraphic records of 4 sleep and 3 cardiopulmonary variables were obtained during a 12 hour overnight recording. Successive minutes were classified as quiet sleep, active sleep, waking or indeterminate states by trained observers using standard scoring criteria. Respiratory rate and variability were calculated by computer for each minute across the night and related to sleep state. Pauses in breathing ≥3 seconds were identified in both groups. There was a tendency for Near-Miss infants to breathe faster with fewer apnea than controls, but this finding was not statistically significant. Although one half of the Near-Miss infants had recurrent prolonged apneic spells, all survived and were normal at 2 years. The proposed relationship between SIDS and apnea is not confirmed by this study.
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