Effect of Study-Duration and Time of Day on Multichannel Sleep Study Findings in Former Preterm Infants

Determine the appropriate duration for multichannel sleep studies in former preterm infants with cardio-respiratory events beyond term equivalent age.

A sleep study of 10 h will provide equivalent information compared to a 20-h study to detect significant cardio-respiratory abnormalities in this population.

Single-center retrospective study of 50 infants with 20-h sleep study. Studies were evaluated for periodic breathing, obstructive, central, mixed apnea, desaturations, and bradycardia. Each study was partitioned into two 10-h epochs, compared to one another and the 20-h study.

Differences were detected at the level of individual sleep studies when each epoch was compared to each other and a total 20-h study. 10-h study missed 17-31% of breathing abnormalities detected over 20 h adjusted for study time. Group analysis showed no statistical difference in the number and duration of events between epochs.

A 20-h sleep study improves the detection of breathing abnormalities missed with a 10-h study.