[Respiration and night sleep in children "at risk" for sudden and unexpected death (author's transl)]

Polygraphic recordings were used to study respiration and night sleep in 26 such children. These children, who were "at risk" for sudden and unexpected death, could be divided into two groups : near-miss (NM) (15 cases), and those who were brothers, sisters, or cousins of a child who had died suddenly and unexpectedly (8 cases), or had periodic respiration (RP) (3 cases). No significant differences were found between the groups in respiratory tests, except for a significantly lower RP rate in the NM group and an increase in number of isolated pauses. Sleep organization was similar in both groups, though there was a significantly higher rate of active sleep (SA) in the NM group more than 2 months old. The highest respiratory indices were noted in the extreme cases of a non-NM group (including 2 brothers of infants who had died unexpectedly). Treatment with Diphemanil methylsulfate (Prantal) reduced the number of SA and respiratory pauses of the NM infants less than 2 months old.