ABSTRACT
The objective of this chapter is to describe breathing during sleep in children
from infancy to adolescence. Understanding these developmental changes is
important for clinicians evaluating common childhood respiratory problems,
such as apnea of infancy, apparent life-threatening events (ALTE), obstructive
sleep apnea, and other forms of sleep-disordered breathing in children. Knowl-
edge of the range of normative data across the ages is necessary to accurately
interpret changes in respiratory parameters during overnight polysomnographic
testing. Increasing demand for diagnostic services for children has been stimu-
lated by (1) growth in the number of accredited sleep laboratories, (2) recog-
nition of sleep medicine as an added qualification by the American Board of
Medical Specialties, and (3) support of the American Board of Pediatrics for
training sleep medicine specialists. New reports of normative data inform the
evaluation of sleep-disordered breathing in children and the practice of pediatric
sleep medicine since the first edition of this book in 2000 (1).
