Respiratory Dysrhythmias during Sleep

Abstract
NORMALLY, breathing by an undisturbed, awake person involves a smooth and regularly recurring sequence of inspiration and expiration without pauses. The rate and depth of breathing are regulated by a negative-feedback control system to maintain arterial partial pressures of carbon dioxide (PCO2) and oxygen (PO2) at relatively constant levels. Diseases of the lung or chest wall may produce hypoxemia and may raise or lower arterial PCO2, but they seldom affect the regularity of breathing. On the other hand, striking changes in the rhythm of breathing occur in disorders that severely disrupt the functioning of . . .

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