Cardiac changes during sleep in sleep-deprived infants.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the influence of a brief period of sleep deprivation on cardiac autonomic controls during sleep in healthy infants.


METHODS
Twelve healthy infants with a median age of 8 weeks (range, 7 to 18 weeks) were recorded polygraphically during a morning and an afternoon nap in a sleep laboratory. They were sleep deprived for approximately 2 hours, either in the morning or in the afternoon, before being allowed to fall asleep. Six infants were sleep deprived before the morning nap, and 6 before the afternoon nap. During both naps, their sleep, breathing, and heart-rate characteristics were continuously recorded. Spectral analysis of heart rate was evaluated as a function of sleep stages. Two major peaks were recognizable: a low-frequency component related to sympathetic and parasympathetic activities and a high-frequency component reflecting parasympathetic tonus. The ratio of low-frequency to high-frequency powers was calculated as an index of sympathovagal interaction.


RESULTS
When sleep deprived, the infants had an increase in basal heart rate during non-rapid eye movement sleep (P=.021). With sleep deprivation, the ratio of low-frequency to high-frequency powers increased in non-rapid eye movement sleep (P=.005). These findings were consistent with an increase in sympathetic tone.


CONCLUSIONS
Infants exposed to short-term sleep deprivation manifest changes in cardiac autonomic controls during sleep. These findings could be relevant to mechanisms associated with the sudden infant death syndrome.
Franco
Patricia
P
Pediatric Sleep Unit, Neuropediatrics, Erasmus Hospital, Brussels, Belgium. Patricia.Franco@skynet.be
Seret
Nicole
N
Van Hees
Jean Noël
JN
Lanquart
Jean-Pol
JP
Groswasser
José
J
Kahn
André
A
D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D017286:Polysomnography; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000453:epidemiology; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology*; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000453:epidemiology
D010100:Oxygen