Chapter 50 - Investigations of respiratory control in infants to assess possible risk for SIDS

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a study to investigate the respiratory control in infants to assess possible risk for sudden infant death syndrome. Several variables related to respiratory control were examined by analysis of 500 recordings of respiration during sleep of infants up to 6 months of age. Statistical parameters such as frequency distribution of sleep apneas, breathing intervals, and variations of tidal volume were evaluated to describe the ventilatory behavior. Virtually, all the infants in the at-risk group experienced apneic episodes, each lasting longer than 8 s, during sleep. Only 22% of the controls had apneas of such duration. To characterize the respiratory pattern of the infants, a numerical value has been computed from the distribution of apneas, which is approximately exponential. A weight function for apneas was used to consider the diagnostic information content of apneas of different durations. Such a prolonged apnea implies a certain risk for an infant and is, therefore, of greater diagnostic importance than shorter apneas, it also has greater information content for the identification of risk.