Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present a method of analyzing repiratory patterns in newborn infants and to present variations of respiration related to postconceptive age, i.e., fetal age + neonatal age. The equipment consists of a tetrapolar impedance plethysmograph with an alarm unit, a Mingograph 81 (Elema-Schönander), and a computer (PDP 12). The respiratory movements are detected from variations in the transthoracic impedance signal. The time intervals between adjacent detections of respiration are recorded in the memory of the computer, programmed for a time interval histogram analysis. Different parameters in the program are clinically estimated. The infants are studied during sleep, shortly after feeding. Other factors influencing respiration, for example, surrounding temperature, light, and background sound, are kept as constant as possible. Data are treated statistically.
With increasing age there is a decrease in the mean frequency of respiration and a decrease in the frequency of respiration and a decrease in the frequency of periodic breathing and apneic episodes. The top of the histogram, i.e., the most frequent frequency of respiration, increases. When the periodic breathing, which usually is very regulat, ceases, there is a period of rather irregular breathing, agin followed by increasing regularity of respiration.
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Selstam, U., Olsson, T. 36. Respiratory patterns in newborn infants related to postconceptive age (fetal age + neonatal age). Pediatr Res 5, 90 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197102000-00041
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197102000-00041