[Neonatal polysomnography in newborn infants with severe birth asphyxia]

Neonatal polysomnography studies (electroencephalogram, electrooculography, body movements, cardiorespiratory frequencies) were performed in 101 newborn full-term infants diagnosed with severe birth asphyxia.

To analyse results, the sample was divided into two groups, depending on whether hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) had occurred or not. The results of the polysomnography studies were correlated with those from the full-term neurological examination and the sequelae from the neurological development during the first two years of life.

Significant correlations were obtained among the variables that were studied. The normality observed in the electrophysiological study in the group of patients with severe asphyxia without HIE was associated with a full-term neurological examination and with a neurological development that has progressed in a satisfactory manner. In the group of patients with grade II HIE there was a predominance of severe alterations in the full-term neonatal polysomnography study, which were significantly correlated with the pathological full-term neurological examinations and serious sequelae from neurological development.

It has been proved that neonatal polysomnography studies are a valuable aid in evaluating the neurological status of newborn infants in a critical condition and in predicting the sequelae of neurological development in the first two years of life. Further research should be aimed at determining the effects exerted by the daily administration of medication (sedatives, anaesthetics and antiepileptic agents) in critical newborn infants on electrical activity in the brain and the cyclic structuring of the different phases of sleep.