Basic values for heart and respiratory rates during different sleep stages in healthy infants.

The aim of this study was to systematically register data for respiratory and heart rates (RR and HR, respectively) during different sleep stages [active (AS, i.e., rapid eye movement) and quiet (QS, i.e., non-rapid eye movement) sleep] and age in a large number of healthy infants (277) during the first year of life to simplify polysomnography. The reference values in this age group differ significantly between the number of patients and age at time of investigation. According to strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, the measurement of polysomnography included HR (beats per minute, or bpm), RR (breaths per minute, or breaths/min), brain waves, SO2, sound, and video. Data recording and evaluation occurred via Alice 3®/3.5®(Respironics®), classification into AS and QS sleep according to maturity. For RR, the 5th-95th percentiles during AS decreased from 25.8-47.7 breaths/min (1st month) to 17.8-27.7 breaths/min (>9 months). During QS, RR ranged from 27.4-51.5 breaths/min (1st month) to 17.8-29.2 breaths/min (>9 months). HR decreased during AS from 118.3-150.6 bpm (1st month) to 100.9-126.4 bpm (>9 months). During QS, HR decreased from 116.0-149.9 bpm (1st month) to 93.7-119.8 bpm (>9 months). The mean HR and RR significantly decreased with age in both sleep stages (p<0.05). The mean HR is significantly lower during QS compared with AS (p<0.05). Our data may serve as basic values for HR and RR in different sleep stages during the first year of life.