QIMR discovers changed sleep patterns in premmie babies

Queensland scientists have discovered that premature babies have changed sleep brain ­activity, which could affect ­future brain development.

BABIES born prematurely have changed sleep brain ­activity, which could affect ­future brain development, Queensland scientists have discovered.

The research led by QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute provides critical new information to understand sleep in babies and supports the growing evidence that ­infant sleep patterns impact brain health.

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The scientists examined brain activity data from 42 infants born at 27 weeks and 52 infants who were full term.

“Quality of sleep is a vital indicator of brain health, ­particularly in newborn infants, and our study looked at the brain process supporting distinct sleep patterns in preterm and full-term babies when measured about two weeks after the full-term due date,” senior author and head of QIMR Berghofer’s Clinical Brain Networks team Dr Luca Cocchi said.

Critical new research, led by Queensland scientists, shows that babies born very prematurely have changed sleep brain activity that may impact future brain development.

“We found babies born at full-term had marked reorganisation of brain activity during different states of sleep, while it wasn’t as distinct in very premature babies,” Dr Cocchi said.

“Our study also indicated that the differences in neural sleep activity at 42 weeks could predict a child’s ability to use visual information to solve problems at two years of age.

“There was some indication it might also have a small effect on social-emotional abilities, but that would require further research,” Dr Cocchi said.

The internat­ional study has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Although there is growing interest in understanding the importance of sleep, there has been very little research on how sleep in the early stages of life affects brain development and future brain health.

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This study provides new critical information and was unique because it used advanced modelling methods.

Dr James Roberts — a co-author of the study and head of QIMR Berghofer’s Brain Modelling Group — said that they used high-density electroencephalography (EEG) and other tools to map interactions between different brain regions when babies were in active sleep and quiet sleep.

The next step would be to look at older children and adults who had been born preterm to see if sleep and behavioural differences ­continue throughout a person’s life.