Apnea Recordings of Healthy Infants at 40, 44, and 52 Weeks Postconception

Abstract

A total of 129 recordings of the respiratory activity of 46 normal full-term infants were obtained continuously for 24 h in the hospital nursery at 3 days of life and in the home environment at 4 wk and 12 wk after birth. The pediatric pneumogram (PPG) technique, an impedance method, was used. Pneumogram data over longer than 16 h was obtained on 77% of infants monitored. No infants experienced apnea longer than 15 s in duration at 40 and 44 wk postconception, or greater than 11 s at 52 wk postconception. Twenty-four hour plots of hourly apnea frequency revealed a marked variability, with evidence of clustering of apneic episodes during periods of reported sleep. Longest apnea time and hourly frequency of apneic episodes were highly correlated.