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Sleep-related risk and worrying behaviours: a retrospective review of a tertiary centre’s experience

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Abstract

This retrospective study aims at helping physicians select babies considered at risk for fatal events during sleep. It does so by describing the clinical features and outcome of worrying infants’ behaviour during sleep, with the activation of an emergency medical service and/or emergency department, subsequently referred to the Centre for Paediatric Sleep Medicine and sudden infant death syndrome, Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital, Turin, Italy. We analysed the medical records of infants < 12 months whose parents reported they had worrying behaviour during sleep in the period 1 January 2009– 31 December 2015. Regional guidelines suggest performing anamnesis and capillary blood gas analysis in case of apparent life-threatening events. There were 33 males, average age 55 ± 54.37 days. On arrival at the emergency medical service/emergency department 97 % infants were asymptomatic; 61 % patients had a capillary blood gas analysis as suggested by the regional guidelines. A clear acid-base disorder was observed in two infants, asymptomatic at medical evaluation, that had assumed an unsafe sleeping position. Two patients presented recurrence of the episode at 3 months.

Conclusions: Most worrying infant behaviour during sleep can be related to paraphysiological phenomena; capillary blood gas analysis and anamnesis are pivotal to identify the cases at risk of fatal events.

What is Known:

• Events that happen during sleep often frighten the parents of newborns. This fear may be induced by the fact that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome typically occurs during sleep.

• This tragic event is unpredictable by any clinical features or findings in instrumental examinations and cannot be prevented with an early resuscitation.

What is New:

• In our retrospective study, most worrying infant behaviour during sleep can be related to paraphysiological phenomena.

• Capillary blood gas analysis and anamnesis collection were crucial to identify the only two life-threatening events.

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Abbreviations

AAP:

American Academy of Pediatrics

ALTE:

Apparent life-threatening events

BRUE:

Brief resolved unexplained event

CBG:

Capillary blood gas analysis

CPR:

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation

ECG:

Electrocardiogram

ED:

Emergency department

EMS:

Emergency medical services

SIDS:

Sudden infant death syndrome

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Acknowledgments

In loving memory of Dr. Elisa Ferrero, who analysed the data, wrote the initial draft of the manuscript and could not see the final version of the work as she flew away too early.

The authors thank Barbara Wade, contract professor of English at the University of Torino, for her linguistic advice.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Centre for Paediatric Sleep Medicine and SIDS, Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital, Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Turin, Italy

    Alessandro Vigo & Silvia Noce

  2. School of Paediatrics, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Giulia Costagliola

  3. Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

    Oliviero Bruni

Authors
  1. Alessandro Vigo
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  2. Silvia Noce
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  3. Giulia Costagliola
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  4. Oliviero Bruni
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Contributions

Alessandro Vigo conceptualized and designed the study, wrote the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

Oliviero Bruni wrote and critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

Giulia Costagliola was involved in the acquisition and the analysis of the data, wrote the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

Silvia Noce was involved in the conception of the study, critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giulia Costagliola.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in compliance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Communicated by Mario Bianchetti

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Vigo, A., Noce, S., Costagliola, G. et al. Sleep-related risk and worrying behaviours: a retrospective review of a tertiary centre’s experience. Eur J Pediatr 178, 1841–1847 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03460-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03460-2

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