title: Sleep wake cycling in early preterm infants: comparison of polysomnographic recordings with a novel EEG-based index.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To document the occurrence of genuine sleep stages in the early preterm babies, and to develop an EEG-based index for following sleep wake cyclicity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve preterm babies were recruited from a study that assessed ventilator strategies. We used altogether 18 polysomnography recordings that were collected at mean conceptional age of 29.3 (25.9-32.7) weeks. Spontaneous activity transients (SAT) were detected automatically and their cumulative coverage in each 20s interval was computed from the EEG derivations C3-A2 and O2-A1. Mean SAT% values between sleep stages were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All babies exhibited all sleep stages, however the sleep was remarkably fragmentary in infants due to their respiratory issues. The EEG index, SAT% showed temporal behavior that strikingly well compared with the sleep stage fluctuations in the hypnogram. In the statistical analysis we found significant differences in all recordings between the deep (quiet) sleep and the REM sleep.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Genuine sleep states exist in the early preterm babies, and changes in sleep stages are reflected in the EEG activity in a way that can be readily measured by assessing fluctuation of the automatically detected, EEG based index, the SAT%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings open a possibility to construct automated analysis or monitoring of sleep wake cyclicity into brain monitors in neonatal intensive care unit.
authors: Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, HUS Medical Imaging Center, Helsinki University Central Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FIN-00029, Finland.
authors: Kirsi
authors: K
authors: Palmu
authors: Turkka
authors: T
authors: Kirjavainen
authors: Susanna
authors: S
authors: Stjerna
authors: Tommi
authors: T
authors: Salokivi
authors: Sampsa
authors: S
authors: Vanhatalo
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004585:Electrooculography; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D017286:Polysomnography; D012016:Reference Values; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Brain monitoring; Neonatal intensive care unit; Neonatal neurology; Preterm baby; SWC; aEEG