Compared to full term , premature infants exhibit significant differences in sleep structure , which mainly include differences in electroencephalographic spectral values , in total sleep time and in arousal threshold .
Furthermore , prematurity seems to be a risk factor of sleep breathing disorders in childhood and adolescence .
Conclusions The alterations in sleep patterns are an outcome of prematurity ( immaturity of nervous system ) as well as of postnatal factors and comorbidities .
Sleep problems in this population of infants seems to be a missing piece of the puzzle of impaired neurodevelopment .
Background Sleep undergoes changes from birth to adulthood , while sleep disorders are associated with various cognitive deficiencies in childhood .
In parallel , prematurity is known to predispose to poor neurodevelopmental outcomes .
Our aim is to provide literature data about factors influencing sleep in the premature infants and sleep outcomes in this population .
Modulation of motor activity patterns and sleep states in low-risk prematurely born infants reaching normal term: a comparison with full-term newborns.
To evaluate the influence of prematurity and postnatal age on the relationship between motor activity ( MA ) and sleep states , forty clinical ly and neurologically normal infants were recorded polygraphically and grouped according to their gestational ( GA , prematures : < 36 weeks , full-term : 37 - 41 weeks ) and conceptional ( CA , 37 - 38 and 39 - 41 weeks ) ages . Sleep states ( active : AS , and quiet : QS ) were defined by the concordance of EEG and rapid eye movement criteria . Movements of both upper ( UL ) and lower ( LL ) limbs were independently recorded . In all groups the amount of MA in both UL and LL clearly predominated in AS compared with QS ( p < 0.02 ) . Contrariwise , both the longest period without movement and the no-movement 20-sec epochs were significantly higher in QS than in AS ( p < 0.005 ) . In AS , age-related modifications and modulation of MA amount throughout the state were similar for PRT and FT groups : a ) in both groups a significant decrease of MA with advancing CA was observed ( p < 0.05 ) ; b ) MA throughout the state was r and omly distributed regardless of CA . In QS , however , PRT were distinguishable from FT by the absence of : a ) a significant decrease of MA amount with advancing CA , together with a reduced increase of both the longest period without movements and the no-movement 20-sec epochs ; b ) prevalence of MA in LL compared with UL ; c ) modulation of the distribution of MA throughout the state
Compared to full term , premature infants exhibit significant differences in sleep structure , which mainly include differences in electroencephalographic spectral values , in total sleep time and in arousal threshold .
Furthermore , prematurity seems to be a risk factor of sleep breathing disorders in childhood and adolescence .
Conclusions The alterations in sleep patterns are an outcome of prematurity ( immaturity of nervous system ) as well as of postnatal factors and comorbidities .
Sleep problems in this population of infants seems to be a missing piece of the puzzle of impaired neurodevelopment .
Background Sleep undergoes changes from birth to adulthood , while sleep disorders are associated with various cognitive deficiencies in childhood .
In parallel , prematurity is known to predispose to poor neurodevelopmental outcomes .
Our aim is to provide literature data about factors influencing sleep in the premature infants and sleep outcomes in this population .