Disorders of breathing during sleep in the pediatric population

In infants and children, as in adults, most respiratory control disorders are manifested primarily during sleep. In this article we shall review the development of breathing during sleep in humans, and consider the four major pediatric disorders due to deficient respiratory control: neonatal apnea, apparent life-threatening events (ALTEs), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and central hypoventilation syndrome (CHS). Readers interested in the sudden infant death syndrome are referred to several excellent reviews and to our recent article focusing on cardiorespiratory abnormalities and unresolved issues.