Everyone Healthy Library
Apnea of Prematurity
Condition / disease reference page from the Everyone Healthy database.
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Connected health information
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Condition overview
Attributes
Linked signs and symptoms
2Each sign/symptom opens its own page and links back to related conditions.
Linked drugs / medications
0No linked drugs are listed yet.
Treatments, therapies and supportive options
13Grouped by treatment type. These are educational database links, not personal treatment recommendations. Evidence labels are shown only where stored in the EH database.
Medical therapy
5Lifestyle changes
2Linked diagnostic tests and investigations
3These are pulled from both EH diagnostic-test link tables, including the older large test-link table.
Biological markers/agents
2This visual map shows biological markers/agents reported as increased or decreased with this condition. These are educational relationships only; test results must be interpreted by a qualified clinician because ranges vary by lab, method, age, sex and clinical context.
Often increased
0No markers in this group.
Often decreased
2- Amniotic Fluid Foam Stability IndexReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 0.47–0.5Linked diagnostic testsAmniotic Fluid Foam Stability Index
- Amniotic Fluid Lecithin to Sphingomyelin Ratio (L to S Ratio)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 2–3.5 RatioLinked diagnostic testsAmniotic Fluid Lecithin to Sphingomyelin Ratio (L to S Ratio)
Introduction / full article
Apnea of Prematurity
Apnea of Prematurity
An episode of apnea of prematurity is defined as a pause in the breathing of a prematurely newborn child lasting in excess of twenty seconds.
It occurs in premature infants as the respiratory centre of the brain is still underdeveloped. As the child approaches term, the respiratory centre continues to develop and the episodes decrease in frequency, before ceasing entirely.
Apnea of prematurity occurs in approximately 80 per cent of infants born prior to 34 weeks’ gestation. The likelihood of incidence is related inversely to the gestational maturity of the child.