REDUCTION IN OBSTRUCTIVE BREATHING EVENTS DURING BODY ROCKING - A CONTROLLED POLYGRAPHIC STUDY IN PRETERM AND FULL-TERM INFANTS

Objective. To investigate the effect of body rocking on infant respira tory behavior during sleep. Methods. Eighteen infants with documented obstructive sleep apneas were studied. There were eight premature infa nts with persistent bradycardias and 10 infants born full-term, admitt ed after an idiopathic apparent life-threatening event. No cause for t he obstructive apneas was found. The infants were recorded with polygr aphic techniques during two successive nights. They were randomly assi gned to a rocking or a nonrocking mattress. The conditions were revers ed the following night, in a crossover design. Results. In both groups of infants,no significant difference was seen between the two consecu tive nights for most of the variables studied: total sleep time, the p roportion of non-rapid-eye-movement and rapid-eye-movement sleep, the number of arousals, the number and maximal duration of central apneas, the frequency of periodic breathing, the level of oxygen saturation, and heart rate. During the nonrocking nights, all infants had repeated obstructive breathing events. In seven of the eight preterm infants a nd in nine of the 10 full-term subjects, body rocking was associated w ith a significant decrease in the frequency of obstructive events. Dur ing rocking, in the preterm infants the obstructions fell from a media n of 2.5 to 1.8 episodes per hour (P =.034). In the full-term infants, rocking reduced the obstructive events from a median of 1.5 obstructi ons per hour to 0.7 (P =.005). No difference was seen for the duration of the obstructive episodes. Conclusion. In preterm and full-term inf ants prone to obstructive sleep apneas, gentle side-to-side body rocki ng is associated with a significant decrease in the frequency of upper -airway obstructions.