Frequency of obstructive and mixed sleep apneas in 1,023 infants

Study Objectives: To collect normative data on the frequency of obstructive and mixed sleep apneas in healthy infants. Study Design: 1100 infants were recorded during one night in a sleep labora tory. Setting: the recordings were performed in an infant sleep laboratory. Patients: The recordings of 1023 infants were used for analysis, the data o f 77 infants being excluded because of poor recording quality. The infants were born full-term, were healthy at the time of study, had no history of a pnea and were aged between 2 and 28 weeks. The polysomnographic recordings were analyzed visually and were subdivided according to the age of the subj ects into 2-7 weeks, 8-11 weeks, 12-15 weeks, 16-19 weeks and 20-27 weeks o f life. Interventions: NA Measurements and Results: At 2-7 weeks of life, obstructive apneas (p=.013) and mixed apneas (p=.004) were significantly more frequent than at any oth er age group. At 8 to 11 weeks of life, obstructive apneas were significant ly more frequent in boys than girls (p=.016). Conclusions: The present findings add to our knowledge of infants' respirat ory characteristics during sleep.