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Basic values for heart and respiratory rates during different sleep stages in healthy infants

Konrad Heimann1, Nicole Heussen, Peter Vaeßen

  • 1University Children's Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany. kheimann@ukaachen.de

Biomedizinische Technik. Biomedical Engineering
|January 26, 2013
PubMed

Insights

This study establishes reference values for infant heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) during active (AS) and quiet (QS) sleep. Both HR and RR significantly decrease with age in healthy infants during their first year of life.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Physiology

Background:

  • Establishing normative data for physiological parameters in infants is crucial for clinical assessment.
  • Polysomnography (PSG) is a standard tool, but reference values for heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) in infants vary.
  • Understanding age- and sleep-stage-specific variations in HR and RR is essential for accurate interpretation of infant sleep studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically collect and analyze respiratory and heart rate data in a large cohort of healthy infants during the first year of life.
  • To establish reference ranges for HR and RR during active sleep (AS) and quiet sleep (QS).
  • To provide simplified, age-specific reference values for HR and RR to aid in polysomnography interpretation.

Main Methods:

  • A large cohort of 277 healthy infants was studied during their first year of life.
  • Polysomnography data, including HR, RR, brain waves, SO2, sound, and video, were recorded and evaluated.
  • Data were classified into AS and QS sleep stages based on maturity, and HR and RR were analyzed across different age groups.

Main Results:

  • Both mean HR and RR significantly decreased with increasing age in both AS and QS (p<0.05).
  • Respiratory rate percentiles during AS ranged from 25.8-47.7 breaths/min (1st month) to 17.8-27.7 breaths/min (>9 months).
  • Heart rate percentiles during QS ranged from 116.0-149.9 bpm (1st month) to 93.7-119.8 bpm (>9 months), with significantly lower HR during QS compared to AS (p<0.05).

Conclusions:

  • The study provides essential reference values for HR and RR in healthy infants during the first year of life.
  • Age-dependent decreases in HR and RR during both active and quiet sleep were confirmed.
  • These data can serve as a valuable baseline for clinical interpretation of infant polysomnography, simplifying diagnostic processes.

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