No abstract

In healthy infants cerebral oxygenation is reduced during sleep in the prone position. This reduction may underpin the reduced arousability from sleep exhibited by healthy infants who sleep prone, a finding that provides new insight into potential risks of prone sleeping and mechanisms of sudden infant death syndrome.

Sleep state and age affect heart rate and blood pressure patterns in prematurely born infants over the first 6 months of term-corrected age. It is notable that preterm infants had persistently lower blood pressure compared with age-matched term infants, signifying long-term alterations in cardiovascular control in infants born prematurely.

Preterm birth impairs the normal maturational increase in BRS, resulting in a substantial reduction in BRS at 5 to 6 months CA during QS. Lower BRS during QS compared with AS at 2 to 3 months CA may place preterm infants at an increased risk for cardiovascular instability at this age of peak incidence of SIDS.