[Respiratory pauses in nocturnal sleep of infants].

In order to study the respiratory abnormalities during sleep that could select children with a high risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), 3 groups of children were studied: Group T: 18 control infants; Group G: 22 infants related to children who died from SIDS and group NM: 32 infants with near miss SIDS. A classic polygraphic EEG recording was performed during sleep. Apneas of 5 or more seconds and periodic respiration were analysed. Half of the infants in groups G and NM did not differ from those in group T. However, the groups G and NM differ from group T by a higher mean index of apneas during sleep and by the presence of a periodic respiration outside REM sleep in some of them. On the contrary, the mean duration of apneas and the number of apneas of more than 10 seconds did not seem to differ significantly in the 3 groups.