Apnea often affects premature babies

Layne Melzer awoke around 8:00 Jan. 6 and looked at the 6-week old son, Shane, beside him. Almost every morning, was the child who woke up at dawn with lusty yells for food, so Melzer was surprised to find Shane still asleep. Then he took a closer look. Shane skin was dark, and he does not seem to be breathing. Melzer moved him shyly, but the baby did not rouse. Its color is darker now. Bluish.

Shouting to his wife to call 911, grabbed Shane Melzer and shook him – hard this time. Child’s eyes opened to a certain point, but his eyes were blank.

Desperately trying to retrieve the resuscitation techniques, Melzer put Shane and mouth blown up twice. Then he turned the child over and slapped him 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.

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

The main consequence of apnea is an injury to the brain and heart due to repeated periods of inadequate oxygen. A child with untreated sleep apnea may in later years, learning and behavioral problems shows, including cerebral palsy, the brain associated with 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 an abnormally slow heart rate. He met all the criteria for the diagnosis of severe apnea. Two days after being admitted to CHOC, was transferred to intensive care unit.

It has only worsened. At 3:30 the next morning his transfer, the Melzers were awakened by a phone call from a medical unit. Shane apnea was so bad that now requested 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 more problems. His breathing stops were never serious enough to activate the monitor, his parents report, and in all other respects, he is thriving.

If SIDS and sleep apnea 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 supports the idea that both disorders are caused by a small upper airway due to the way you shape of the skull, 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. Researchers had a family to fill out questionnaires about the incidence of infant death. The 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 sleeping problems – reported eight unexplained infant deaths. The control families reported no unexplained, unexpected infant deaths, even if a child had died of maternal-infant incompatibility in blood type. Two families with 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 studies have suggested that some families may be at higher risk for SIDS, but like many things about SIDS, it remains controversial. This is a thorny issue. The idea was that sleep apnea may be the final common pathway of SIDS, but not necessarily the case. The problem with SIDS research is that nobody has ever seen a SIDS death.

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

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

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