A study has found that premature birth can change an infant’s brain activity while they are asleep and this can affect future brain health. QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute researchers in Australia have analyzed brain activity data collected from 94 infants from Helsinki in Finland. Dr Luca Cocchi, senior author and head of QIMR Berghofer’s Clinical Brain Networks team said that “Quality of sleep is a vital indicator of brain health, particularly in newborn infants.”
Around 42 infants who were born extremely premature at 27 weeks and a control group of 52 infants who were born at full term have been included in the study group. Their study focused on distinct sleep patterns in preterm and full-term babies when measured about two weeks after the full term due date.
In the journal Nature Communications, the study was published. High-density electroencephalography (EEG) & other tools were used by the researchers in order to map interactions between different brain regions when babies were in active sleep and quiet sleep.
