Prediction of central apnea episodes in infants during sleep.

This study describes a prediction method for central apnea episodes of newborns during sleep. The cross-correlation between heart rate and respiration obtained from newborns is calculated. Employing the cross-correlation, the displacement between heart rate and respiration before central sleep apnea episodes was much larger than the displacement in the stationary state. As the result, it is possible to predict central sleep apnea episodes several minutes before their occurrence.