Caffeine is widely used in children's hospitals to treat neonatal apnea.

Startle disease is an inherited neurological disorder that causes affected individuals to suffer noise- or touch-induced non-epileptic seizures, excessive muscle stiffness and neonatal apnea episodes.

Individuals with mutations in SLC6A5 present with hypertonia, an exaggerated startle response to tactile or acoustic stimuli, and life-threatening neonatal apnea episodes.