Sleep and breathing in sleep in children with breath-holding spells.
Sleep recordings were obtained in 21 children with breath-holding spells to investigate the possible existence of breathing disorders in sleep. Sleep recordings revealed an increased amount of wake time within sleep and sleep stage 1, and decreased amounts of stages 2 and REM. None of the children had more than 20 apneic episodes during sleep. These findings support the hypothesis that breath-holding spells are a functional disturbance of psychological nature only.
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012119:Respiration; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013575:Syncope / Q000209:etiology