Gastroesophageal reflux and apnea in prematurely born infants during wakefulness and sleep
M. de Ajuriaguerra, M. F. Radvanyi-Bouvet, C. Huon and G. Moriette
Service de Medecine Neonatale, Groupe Hospitalier Cochin, Paris, France.
The hypothesis that acid gastroesophageal reflux may be responsible for the
persistence of apnea was tested on 20 prematurely born infants, at a median
conceptional age of 38.7 weeks. Gastroesophageal reflux was identified
using distal esophageal pH monitoring. Apneas of durations greater than 10
seconds were identified and classified as either central or obstructive and
mixed, using recordings of respiration. Wakefulness, active sleep, and
quiet sleep were identified using electroencephalography and by assessing
eye movements. Of 134 episodes of acid gastroesophageal reflux in the 20
subjects, more occurred during wakefulness and during active sleep than
during quiet sleep. A total of 139 apneas, predominantly of the obstructive
and mixed type, occurred. No relationship could, however, be demonstrated,
in this rather small number of patients, between the occurrence of
gastroesophageal reflux and that of apneas.
