SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME - REVIEW OF RECENT ADVANCES

Abstract

When deaths during the 1st yr of life are sudden, unexpected and unexplained by any clinical or routine postmortem findings, they are placed in the category of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). SIDS may have many causes, but there are probably only a few final pathways to death. Much recent evidence supports sleep apnea as the most common final pathway. Several SIDS victims have had recurrent episodes of sleep apnea prior to deth. Such episodes are associated with chronic underventilation of the lungs in other disorders, and more than half of SIDS victims have postmortem markers of antecedent chronic underventilation and hypoxemia. The hypoventilation-apnea hypothesis fits most of the unique epidemiologic features of SIDS.