Periodic breathing is clusters of breaths separated by intervals of

apnea Apnea, BrE: apnoea, is the temporal cessation of breathing. During apnea, there is no movement of the muscles of inhalation, and the volume of the lungs initially remains unchanged. Depending on how blocked the airways are ( patency), there ...

or near-apnea. As opposed to normal breathing which is usually regular, periodic breathing is defined as three or more episodes of central apnea lasting at least 4 seconds, separated by no more than 30 seconds of normal breathing. Periodic breathing was originally thought to arise from serious neurologic or cardiovascular disease and therefore to carry a poor outlook. It is now known that periodic breathing also tends to occur during sleep, it can occur in healthy persons, and the apnea in periodic breathing is usually

central sleep apnea Central sleep apnea (CSA) or central sleep apnea syndrome (CSAS) is a sleep-related disorder in which the effort to breathe is diminished or absent, typically for 10 to 30 seconds either intermittently or in cycles, and is usually associated w ...

rather than

obstructive sleep apnea Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder and is characterized by recurrent episodes of complete or partial obstruction of the upper airway leading to reduced or absent breathing during sleep. These episod ...

. Periodic breathing during sleep occurs typically in adult patients with congestive heart failure. Periodic breathing is also a normal variation of breathing found in

premature Premature may refer to: * ''Premature'' (2014 film), an American comedy film * ''Premature'' (2019 film), an American romantic drama film * ''PREMature'', a 2015 British television drama miniseries See also * Premature aging, of an organism * P ...

and full term

infant An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

s. It occurs when the infant has pauses in breathing for no more than 10 seconds at a time followed by a series of rapid, shallow breaths. Then the breathing returns to normal without any stimulation or intervention. These pauses in breathing may be accompanied by minor oxygen desaturation and

bradycardia Bradycardia (also sinus bradycardia) is a slow resting heart rate, commonly under 60 beats per minute (BPM) as determined by an electrocardiogram. It is considered to be a normal heart rate during sleep, in young and healthy or elderly adults, a ...

. It usually occurs when the infant is sleeping deeply, but may occur with light sleep or even when awake. Studies have shown that 78% of healthy full-term infants experience episodes of periodic breathing in the first two weeks of life, which typically resolves in the first six months of life.

References

Respiration Medical terminology {{respiratory-stub