Cardiorespiratory variables of preterm infants near term

Introduction: Significant advances in neonatal care have improved survival in preterm infants. However chronic neonatal lung disease (CNLD) continues to be a significant problem. There is very limited data in literature describing the cardiorespiratory variables at 35-36 weeks of infants who are born preterm. Aim: To collect sleep pattern and normative cardiorespiratory data in preterm infants born under 31 week9s gestation at corrected gestation of 35-36 weeks. (We present the cardiorespiratory data). Methods: Using an in-house polysomnography system prospective data on respiratory effort using effort bands, pulse oximetry, actigraphy and visual scoring of sleep using video camera were collected in a cohort of preterm infants under 31 weeks gestation over a 6-10 hour period continuously. We analyzed the heart rate, oxygen saturations from the data collected on the pulse oximetry channel. The respiratory rate was derived using the Labchart software. We are presenting heart rate, oxyhaemoglobin saturation and respiratory rate profile on 25 preterm infants. Results: The mean heart rate with 5,95th centiles was 155 (129-181). The mean oxyhaemoglobin saturation with 5, 95th centiles was 94.7 (85.9-98.8). The respiratory rate had significant variability between awake and sleep with the range between 34-100/min. The average respiratory rate was in the 50s for this group of infants. Cumulative frequency curves constructed with the heart rate and oxyhaemoglobin data provides us with reference ranges for this specific group of preterm infants. Conclusion: The description of reference ranges for cardiorespiratory variables would provide us with objective data in management of CNLD infants and ascertaining home oxygen requirement.