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 laboratory.
Setting: the recordings were performed in an infant sleep laboratory.
Patients: The recordings of 1023 infants were used for analysis, the data of 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 apnea and were aged between 2 and 28 weeks. The polysomnographic recordings were analyzed visually and were subdivided according to the age of the subjects into 2-7 weeks, 8-11 weeks, 12-15 weeks, 16-19 weeks and 20-27 weeks of 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 other age group. At 8 to 11 weeks of life, obstructive apneas were significantly more frequent in boys than girls (p=.016).
Conclusions: The present findings add to our knowledge of infants' respiratory characteristics during sleep.