Different patterns of cortico-cardiac coupling in healthy and postasphyctic preterm infants – a marker for prognosis?

Electroencephalogram (EEG) combined with heart rate (HR) patterns can give information about the functioning of central nervous system structures and the integrity of the autonomic nervous system in preterm infants at risk on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Maturational pattern and cerebral impairment play an important role. In healthy preterm infants with a conceptional age (CA) of 32 and 36 weeks the occurrence of slow wave EEG bursts is accompanied by a weak biphasic HR change always starting with a HR-acceleration in the order of about 2 beats per minute (bpm). In post-asphyctic preterm infants we found a different behaviour of HR patterns in form of a slow monophasic HR change with a magnitude of around 1 bpm and duration of several seconds. This finding might be a marker for estimation of prognosis in preterm infants at risk.