OSA and SIDS

[LSAT]

We were watching TV the other night and the local news reported on a case of SIDS....Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
We were with some friends where both males have OSA. Our discussion focused on the possible relationship between OSA and SIDS. Has anyone ever read anything about this relationship? Can infants have OSA?

[Wulfman]

When I was interviewing some of the local DMEs five years ago, one of them threw that into our conversation.......in that there was a belief that there is a connection. It seems like I also read some things about it around that time, but haven't done any searches lately. To me, it seems like a very logical connection.

EDIT.....I just did a Google search on "SIDS AND Obstructive Sleep Apnea"......and got lots of links.


Den

[elg5cats]

We were watching TV the other night and the local news reported on a case of SIDS....Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Has anyone ever read anything about this relationship? Can infants have OSA?

Premature babies are monitored closely for apnea and it's not uncommon for them to have apnea...they are sometimes discharged home on on monitors that alarm with 02 desats. I don't think that it's diagnosed as OSA, they are not receiving formal sleep studies that I'm aware of.........Because of SIDS, parents of newborns are instructed not to place their infants on their tummy for sleep. They are instructed to have their infants to sleep on their back to reduce risk of SIDS. I often question if back sleeping could be a risk for babies too...given what we know about apnea and back sleeping. Baby sleep has a high percentage of REM stage sleep........There was a time, babies were not viewed as experiencing pain....and that cats don't get pancreatitis.....thoughts often change when evaluation methods are identified. My thoughts are if babies were tested, there would be baby OSA diagnosis.
Just my 2 cents!!!!

elg5cats

[cpapper]

I worked for a pediatric pulmonary dept. at a university hospital as a "pneumogram technician" (retired in 1996). The pneumogram would show abnormal apnea, decreases in heart rate (bradycardia) and periodic breathing, there was a range of what was normal and abnormal. Along with significant apnea, It was believed that a large percentage of periodic breathing might increase the chances of SIDS, and the infants were treated with medication (Theophylline) to stimulate breathing. Siblings of SIDS were tested, and other infants in the NICU with various issues. Since then, I'm sure there is more sophisticated equipment and I don't know what the latest research has shown.

[JohnBFisher]

... Our discussion focused on the possible relationship between OSA and SIDS. Has anyone ever read anything about this relationship? Can infants have OSA?

Yup. LOTS of research on it:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=SIDS+OSA

It was once thought that only Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) would be the underlying cause of SIDS:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=SIDS+CSA

But as doctors and researchers became more aware of OSA symptoms, based on their observations of labored breathing they wondered if OSA might be linked. Hence all the articles.

[roster]

Wikipedia has a good article on SIDS that can be read in a short time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_inf ... h_syndrome

SIDS is a diagnosis of exclusion. It should only be applied to an infant whose death is sudden and unexpected .... and remains unexplained after the performance of an adequate postmortem investigation ....

[sleepycarol]

My brother lost two babies with SIDS. The first was in 1980. Our family knew very little about SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). I did research on it at the time since I was pregnant with baby number 4. At that time it was termed "apnea" but I don't remember much else except that they thought that for whatever reason the brain didn't signal the baby to breathe. His second child died in 1984 with SIDS. No explanation for the deaths as everything on autopsy reports appeared normal. Although his first child did have some type of heart condition, but didn't contribute that to her death.

My daughter's second child was placed on a monitor as she had episodes of not breathing, even while being held she would stop and if she was awakened slightly would sigh and start breathing again.

I believe there is a connection and as research continues, hopefully these children can be identified before tragedy strikes.