Sleep organization is unaffected by caffeine in premature infants.

Abstract

We performed 10-hour polysomnographic recordings in 15 neurologically normal and clinically stable 33- to 34-week postmenstrual age (PMA) neonates, 10 of whom had been treated >3 days with once-per-day oral caffeine citrate (5 mg/kg) given at approximately 2 PM. We analyzed (a) the usual sleep-wake variables, including wakefulness, active sleep, quiet sleep, and indeterminate sleep expressed as the number of episodes, duration, and percentage of total sleep time; (b) the duration and order of variable modifications during transitions between the main active sleep and quiet sleep states; and (c) the characteristics of morning data (before caffeine) compared with evening data (after caffeine). We found no significant differences between the controls and the infants receiving maintenance caffeine.