Apnea often affects premature babies

Layne Melzer awoke around 8:00 Jan. 6 and looked at six weeks old son, Shane, beside him. Almost every morning, the child who was shaken vigorously at dawn with cries for food, so Melzer was surprised to find Shane still asleep. Then took a closer look. The skin was dusky Shane, and he did not seem to be breathing. Melzer jiggled him temporarily, but the child did not encounter. Its color is darker now. Bluish.

Yells to his wife to call 911, Melzer grabbed Shane and shook him – hard this time. The child’s eyes opened to a certain point, but his gaze was blank.

Frantically trying to recall the techniques of resuscitation, Melzer put his mouth on Shane and swollen twice. Then he turned the child over and gave him a pat on the back. The slap back, and then a third time. Suddenly Shane gulped for air and began to cry. A moment later, the rescue team arrived.

The crisis, however, was far from over. At noon, Shane was admitted to Childrens Hospital of Orange County with a provisional diagnosis of severe apnea.

Apnea term derives from the Latin words to and pneuma, which means without air. Medically, it refers to pauses in breathing.

The main consequence of apnea is damage to the brain and heart because of repeated periods of inadequate oxygen. A child with untreated sleep apnea may, in later years, have learning and behavioral problems, including cerebral palsy, associated with the brain damage.

Shane Melzer problem was central apnea, exacerbated by a viral infection.

Shane breathing pauses were frequent, long, responsible for repeated episodes of bradycardia – the medical term for abnormally slow heartbeat. He met all the criteria for a diagnosis of severe apnea. Two days after being admitted to CHOC, was transferred to the intensive care unit.

It has only worsened. At 3:30 in the morning following his transfer, the Melzers were awakened by a phone call from a medical unit. Shane apnea was so bad that now required the assistance of a respirator to survive, the doctor told them. But Shane was lucky to be in a hospital experienced in treating apnea.

Shane apnea caused no more problems. His breathing stops were never severe enough to trigger the monitor, his parents report, and in every other respect, it is thriving.

SIDS and sleep apnea are related?

One study suggests that sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) may be more common in families who suffer from sleep disorders sleeping adult apnea

Although the cause of SIDS remains mysterious, new evidence supports the idea that both disorders are caused by a narrowing of the upper airway resulting from the way in which the skull is formed, a trait that is inherited.

The study compared the number of SIDS cases in 29 families with sleep apnea and 35 families without sleep apnea. The researchers had a family to fill out questionnaires about the incidence of infant death. Subjects provided data from four generations of each family so that 352 members of the family sleep apnea and 408 control family members were covered.

Families tend to sleep apnea – when breathing stops for short periods during sleep and can lead to snoring or disturbed sleep – eight unexplained deaths reported in children. The control families reported no unexplained, unexpected infant mortality, even if a child had died of mother-child blood type incompatibility. Two families of sleep apnea reported more than one SIDS death. In one case, a pair of twins had died without explanation. When the researchers examined the structure of the face of four of the six families that signaled the death of SIDS, they found the forms were significantly different from normal families.

The results suggest that SIDS and sleep apnea are associated and that both adults could result from obstructive apnea due to facial structure of the upper airway narrowing.

Sleep apnea runs in families. Other work has suggested that some families may be at increased risk of SIDS, although like most things of SIDS, it remains debated. This is a thorny issue. The idea was that sleep apnea may be the final common pathway of SIDS, but not necessarily the cause. The problem with SIDS research is that no one has ever seen a death.

SIDS

In children who often appear tired or have trouble staying awake in school, check for potential sleep apnea caused by abnormally large adenoids or tonsils.

Another study that found that children considered at high risk of SIDS – those who had stopped breathing and were found by accident and resuscitated – had a higher probability of having a father with sleep apnea-like symptoms. This may support the idea that sleep apnea is related to SIDS. But as they are connected and whether it is causative is another question.

Tags: sleep apnea treatments, apnea, treatment for sleep apnea

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