Affiliations: Pediatric Sleep Unit, University Children's Hospital
of Brussels, Free University of Brussels, Belgium | Department of Pediatrics, Nagoya City University
Medical School, Nagoya, Japan | Department of Legal Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical
University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan | Department of Pathology, Centre Hospitalier
Universitaire Brugmann - Hôpital Universitaire des Enfants Reine Fabiola,
Free University of Brussels (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
Note: [] Correspondence: Prof. B. Dan, Neurology Department, Hôpital
Universitaire des Enfants Reine Fabiola 15 Avenue JJ Crocq, 1020 Brussels,
Belgium. Tel.: +32 2 4773174; Fax: +32 2 4772176; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Preventable risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome include
the infant's environment and response characteristics. Various infant and
environmental factors thus modify the vital cardiocirculatory, respiratory and
arousal controls in healthy infants. Similar changes in cardiorespiratory and
autoresuscitative responses have been found in the analysis of sleep recordings
of victims of sudden infant death syndrome. It is not known why some infants
die, while others show similar changes but survive in the first year of life.
The death could be due to the degree of the initial immature controls, to the
severity of the additional challenge, or to a combined effect of inadequate
autoresuscitative mechanisms and the cumulative influence of infant and/or
environmental stressors.
Keywords: infant, sleep, sudden infant death syndrome, apnea
