Respiratory response to airway occlusion in infants: sleep state and maturation

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Abstract
The progressive respiratory response to occlusion of the airway at FRC was measured in a group of full-term and premature human infants. The sleep state of the full-term infants was shown to affect the response primarily through variations in the phase of thoracic and abdominal movements. The weakest responses were seen in those infants who demonstrated parodoxical respiration prior to occlusion. Most infants developed paradoxical respiratory movements after occlusion, but this did not affect the strength of the load-compensatory response. An increase in response related to both gestationaland postnatal age was observed. This increase could not be accounted for byvariations in the amount of paradoxical and in-phase respiration and thus may represent an increase in the sensitivity of infants to chemical stimuli with maturation.