Over a decade of clinical chrononeonatology and chronopediatrics in Moscow

Work done in the Scientific Center for Children's Health at the Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow over the past 12 years is reviewed herein. Results stem primarily from data collected automatically around the clock for spans ranging from one day to several weeks. They concern primarily blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), but other variables were also monitored, notably transcutaneous pO₂ and pCO₂, and cerebral blood volume, assessed by near-infrared spectrophotometry. On an individual basis, we find the circadian rhythm expressed in early extrauterine life, while about 7-day (circaseptan) changes predominate. They may have an environmental counterpart in the changes of local magnetic disturbances, representing a non-photic solar influence. On a group basis, a circadecadal cycle similar to the solar activity cycle is also found to modulate neonatal BP. Results further indicate the merits of assessing the rhythmic variations that take place within the physiological range since the circadian BP pattern relates to the presence of a familial history of high BP and related diseases and may express the cardiovascular disease risk of in utero exposure to betamimetic drugs, apparently lasting into adolescence. Other alterations of the neonatal circadian patterns of BP, pO₂ and cerebral blood volume have been related to neurological outcome at 6 years of age.