Cardiorespiratory patterns during alarms in infants using apnea/bradycardia monitors
I. Nathanson, J. O'Donnell and M. F. Commins
Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine.
Evaluating the significance of alarms at home in infants monitored for
apnea/bradycardia depends on subjective parental observations.
Retrospective analysis of 165 event recordings made during alarms in 90
monitored infants indicated that alarms were due to prolonged (greater than
15 s) apnea (6%), bradycardia (14%), shallow breathing (19%), mechanical
malfunction (55%), or other causes (6%). Also, 68 infants had pneumograms.
Of the 37 infants with an abnormal pneumogram, 14% had an abnormal event
recording. Of the 31 infants with a normal pneumogram, 16% had an abnormal
event recording. All monitors were discontinued without complication after
a negative event recording. It may be concluded that (1) event recordings
can document cardiorespiratory patterns during alarms, (2) the majority of
alarms occurring at home are not significant, and (3) pneumograms do not
appear to indicate which infants are at risk for a future significant
alarm.
