Sudden infant death syndrome

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is the term for the sudden and unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant aged one month to one year. SIDS is a definition of exclusion and only applies to an infant whose death remains unexplained after the performance of an adequate postmortem investigation including (1) an autopsy, (2) investigation of the scene and circumstances of the death and (3) exploration of the medical history of the infant and family. Generally, but not always, the infant is found dead after having been put to sleep and exhibits no signs of having suffered. The inexplicable nature of the syndrome often leaves parents with a deep sense of guilt in addition to their grief. In the United Kingdom the term cot death is synonymous with SIDS, while crib death is a common term in the United States.

Related Topics:
Infant - Autopsy - Medical history - Grief - United Kingdom - United States

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Very little is known about the possible causes of SIDS. It is important to note that ruling a child's death to be a case of SIDS is not describing the cause of death, but in fact a statement that the cause of death remains unknown. Although there is no known way to prevent it, research has provided several risk factors (below) which are related to an increased incidence of the syndrome.

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