Aerodynamic factors affecting rebreathing in infants

The rebreathing of expire air, with high carbon dioxide and low oxygen concentrations, has long been implicated in unexplained Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) when infants are placed to sleep in a prone (facedown) position. This study elucidates the effect of the aerodynamic parameters Reynolds number, Strouhal number, and Froude number on the percentage of expired air that is reinspired (rebreathed). A nasal module was designed that served as a simplified geometric representation of infant nostrils and placed above a hard, flat surface. Quantitative and flow visualization experiments were performed to measure rebreathing, using water as the working medium, under conditions of dynamic similarity. Different anatomic (e.g., tidal volume, nostril diameter), physiological (e.g., breathing frequency), and environmental (e.g., temperature, distance from the surface) factors were considered. Increases in Strouhal number (simultaneously faster and shallower breathing) always produced higher rebreathed percentages, because rolled-up vortices in the vicinity of the nostrils had less time to move away by self-induction. Positively and negatively buoyant flows resulted in significant rebreathing. In the latter case, consistent with a warm environment and a high percentage of rebreathed CO₂, denser gas pooled in the vicinity of the nostrils. Reynolds numbers below 200 also dramatically increased rebreathing because the expired gas pooled much closer to the nostrils. These results clearly elucidated how the prone position dramatically increases rebreathing by a number of different mechanisms. Furthermore, the results offer plausible explanations of why a high-temperature environment and low birthweight are SIDS risk factors. NEW & NOTEWORTHY A fundamentally new aerodynamics-based approach to the study of rebreathing of expired air in infants is presented. Rebreathing is implicated in unexplained Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) when infants sleep in a prone position. This is the first time that aerodynamic parameters are systematically varied and their effects on rebreathing quantified. The study provides us with a deeper understanding of the effects of breathing frequency, tidal volume (birthweight) and environmental conditions.