title: Arousal from sleep pathways are affected by the prone sleeping position and preterm birth: preterm birth, prone sleeping and arousal from sleep.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Preterm infants exhibit depressed arousability from sleep when compared with term infants. As the final cortical element of the arousal process may be the most critical for survival, we hypothesized that the increased vulnerability of preterm infants to the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) could be explained by depressed cortical arousal (CA) responses. We evaluated the effects of preterm birth on stimulus-induced arousal processes in both the prone and supine sleeping positions.
  
  
  METHODS
  10 healthy preterm infants were studied with daytime polysomnography, in both supine and prone sleeping positions, at 36 weeks gestational age, 2-4 weeks, 2-3 months and 5-6 months post-term corrected age. Sub-cortical activations and cortical arousals (CA) were expressed as proportions of total arousal responses. Preterm data were compared with data from 13 healthy term infants studied at the same corrected ages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In preterm infants increased CAs were observed in the prone position at all ages studied. Compared to term infants, preterm infants had significantly fewer CAs in QS when prone at 2-3 months of age and more CAs when prone at 2-4 weeks in AS. There were no differences in either sleep state when infants slept supine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prone sleeping promoted CA responses in healthy preterm infants throughout the first six months of post-term age. We have previously suggested that in term infants enhanced CA represents a critical protection against a potentially harmful situation; we speculate that for preterm-born infants the need for this protection is greater than in term infants.
authors.affiliation: The Ritchie Centre, Monash Institute of Medical Research, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Heidi L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: Rosemary S C
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Horne
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D017286:Polysomnography; D016684:Prone Position; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000209:etiology; D016683:Supine Position
keywords: Arousal; Preterm Infants; Sleep; Sudden Infant Death Syndrome