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Heartbeat evoked potentials during sleep and daytime behavior in children with sleep-disordered breathing

Sarah A Immanuel1, Yvonne Pamula, Mark Kohler

  • 11 School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
|October 16, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) show reduced heartbeat evoked potentials (HEP) during sleep, indicating altered brain processing. Treatment for SDB appears to normalize these brain responses.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Pediatrics

Background:

  • Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) offer insights into cortical processing.
  • Externally evoked stimuli can disrupt sleep homeostasis.
  • Heartbeat evoked potentials (HEP) provide a measure of intrinsic cortical processing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate heartbeat evoked potentials (HEP) in children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) compared to healthy controls.
  • To assess changes in HEP before and after SDB treatment (adenotonsillectomy).
  • To explore associations between HEP and daytime behavioral deficits in children with SDB.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed heartbeat-aligned EEG for HEP in stage 2, slow-wave, and REM sleep.
  • Studied 40 children with SDB (pre- and post-treatment) and 40 matched controls.
  • Utilized adenotonsillectomy as the treatment intervention for SDB.

Main Results:

  • Nonrandom HEP were present in all sleep stages for both groups.
  • Children with SDB had significantly lower HEP amplitude during non-REM sleep at baseline.
  • Post-adenotonsillectomy, the difference in HEP amplitude between groups was no longer significant.
  • Significant negative associations were found between baseline HEP and daytime behavioral scores.

Conclusions:

  • Children with SDB exhibit reduced sleep-related HEP amplitude, suggesting altered sensory processing.
  • This reduction may indicate changes in afferent cardiac sensory input or sensory gating in the insular cortex.
  • Adenotonsillectomy appears to reverse the observed alterations in HEP in children with SDB.
Abstract

Keywords:
adenotonsillectomybehaviorcardiac cyclechildrenheartbeat evoked potential

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