Sudden Infant Death

Abstract

An infant who subsequently died of sudden-infant-death syndrome was included in a sample of 24 healthy neonates in a study of normal learning ability using cardiac habituation to an auditory stimulus. This infant showed more lability and poorer stabilization of the cardiac rate after stimulation. Although cardiac lability did not interfere with his learning capacities, these findings suggest a dysfunction of the central mechanism for stabilizing the autonomic response especially after stimulation. (N Engl J Med 291:219–222, 1974)