Upper airways obstruction and apnoea in preterm babies.

Measurements of tidal flow, volume, and oesophageal pressure were recorded on a group of 8 severely preterm infants with periodic respiration. Analysis of the flow trace for evidence of cardiac artefact, and the tidal volume trace to identify at what point of the tidal cycle apnoea starts, indicated that upper airways obstruction was associated with about half these attacks. It is surmised that this is produced by glottic closure.