Obstructive sleep apnea in young infants: Sleep position dependence and spontaneous improvement.

OBJECTIVES

The natural evolution of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in young infants is not established.

METHODS

We re-evaluated 10-year pediatric sleep center infant polysomnography (PSG) data, excluding infants with syndromes, genetic defects, structural anomalies or periodic breathing > 5% of sleep time.

RESULTS

Obstructive events > 1 h were evident in 255 infants, of which 91 were eligible for the study. Of the 38 infants in a follow-up study, 30 (79%) were male, 15 (40%) were born prematurely, 25 (66%) had observed apneas, and 13 (33%) had experienced a brief, unexplained event or had a sibling of the infant died suddenly. The first PSG was performed at a median corrected age of 4 weeks (interquartile range [IQR] 2-7) and the second at 11 weeks (IQR 9-14). The obstructive apnea and hypopnea index (OAHI) was greater in the supine compared to side-sleeping position in both recordings (p < 0.001), whereas OAHI dropped from 10 h (IQR 6-24) in the first PSG to 3 h (IQR 1-9) in the second PSG (p < 0.001). OSA alleviation was also observable as a decrease in the number of oxygen desaturations (p < 0.001), as a decrease in transcutaneous (p = 0.001) and end-tidal carbon dioxide (p = 0.01) 95th percentile levels, and work of breathing (p = 0.002). Seven infants had a third PSG to verify a satisfactory improvement of OSA.

CONCLUSIONS

OSA in young infants without a clear syndrome or structural anomaly is sleep position dependent and shows improvement during the following few months.