Rapid eye movement sleep in breath holders

One-night polysomnography was performed on seven subjects suffering from br eath-holding spells, including one whose death was suggested to be a conseq uence of a breath-holding spell. The fatal case showed no rapid eye movemen ts (REMs) during REM sleep, although he exhibited REMs during wakefulness. The average numbers of both REMs and bursts of REMs in REM sleep in the oth er six breath holders were significantly lower than those in age-matched co ntrols. The breath holders showed no airway obstruction, desaturation, or s leep fragmentation. Since the rapid ocular activity in REM sleep is generat ed in the brain stem, we hypothesized that a functional brainstem disturban ce is involved in the occurrence of breath-holding spells.