Recent research in sudden infant death syndrome

Despite a considerable fall in numbers over the last 15 years, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remains the commonest cause of death of infants between one month and one year of age in the U.K. The cause of SIDS is unknown and there may be several causes, some specific to the particular infant and some external and possibly modifiable. This article discusses some of the leading theories of possible causation and reviews some of the research that has been published in the last few years or is still ongoing. The main areas in which there have been progress in research are (i) aspects of brain function that are responsible for arousal and maintenance of breathing and circulation; (ii) factors regulating the inflammatory response to infection and exposure to bacterial toxins; (iii increased understanding of rare genetic diseases that may account for a few cases; and (iv) the importance of critical developmental stages, and the effect of premature delivery and low birth weight on these. It is hoped that further research will enable the incidence of SIDS to be further reduced below the current rate of about 300 cases per year in the U.K.