Augmented cardiovascular responses to episodes of repetitive compared with isolated respiratory events in preschool children with sleep-disordered breathing

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Childhood sleep disordered breathing (SDB) presents as isolated respiratory events or episodes of consecutive repetitive events. We hypothesized that the surge in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) would be greater at the termination of events during episodes of repetitive events than following isolated events. METHODS: % change in HR and pulse transit time (PTT; inverse surrogate of BP) were calculated from the last half of an event to: (i) between successive repetitive events; (ii) termination of the last repetitive event; (iii) event termination for isolated events. RESULTS: 69% of the children exhibiting both isolated and repetitive events had more repetitive than isolat..