POSTNATAL GROWTH AND THE SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME1

Abstract

Gain in weight, crown-to-heel length, and head circumference from birth to death in 362 cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) were significantly less than in 270 living infants reared in the same city during the same time period under circumstances deemed advantaged for optimal growth. The postnatal growth rate of SIDS babies approximated that of a second local, contemporary group of 118 infants for whom, on clinical grounds, the circumstances for thriving were deemed less favorable. The fact that SIDS infants, on the average, exhibit impaired postnatal growth supports recent evidence indicating that chronic alveolar hypoxia may play a critical role in the genesis of the syndrome.