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Sighs During Sleep in Future Victims of Sudden Infant Deaths
Igor A. Kelmanson M.D., Ph.D, Jose Groswasser M.D, Patricia Franco M.D., Ph.D, Andr� Kahn M.D., Ph.D
The study was designed to evaluate the presence of sighs during sleep in 15 infants who
became victims of SIDS. There were 11 boys and 4 girls, born at term, and with a median
age of 12 weeks at the time of polysomnographic recording. They were 34 week old at
the time of death. The recordings of the SIDS victims were age- and sex-matched with
those of healthy control subjects. Sighs were defined as a brisk and isolated increase in
thoracoabdominal excursion with an amplitude at least twice superior to that measured
during the 10 seconds that preceded the event. Sighs were classified in four categories
depending on their association with apneas: isolated, pre-apneic, post-apneic, and intraapneic.
No significant difference was found between the two groups of infants for total
sleep time, types, number or duration of apneas. A total of 218 sighs were scored during
sleep (135 in the future SIDS victims, 83 in the control infants). In the two groups, the
types of sighs were seen with decreased order of frequency as: pre-apneic, isolated, postapneic,
and intra-apneic. Sighs were found in all sleep states, but were more frequently
found in NREM sleep. The distribution of the sighs in the various sleep stages was not
different between the two groups. Pre-apneic sighs were significantly more common in
the future SIDS victims (p= .035). No significant difference was found between the two
groups of infants for the frequency of the other types of sighs. Transient increases in EEG
frequencies following the sighs were observed significantly more frequently in the future
SIDS victims. Oxygen blood saturation preceding the sighs was lower in the SIDS victims.
The mechanisms responsible for a greater frequency of sighs preceding central apneas in
future SIDS infants remain unclear. (Sleep and Hypnosis 2003;5(2):83-88)
| Keywords: apnea, infants, sighs, sleep, sudden infant death |
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