SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) By: Alex Golgolab 3/13/10 Period 7

Description “SIDS” is an acronym standing for “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome”. SIDS is also commonly known as crib death. The syndrome is marked by the sudden death of an infant which remains a mystery even after the doctors perform an autopsy, review a history of the baby’s health, and a look at the scene where the death occurred. What typically happens is after an infant has fallen asleep, the parents will later come to wake the baby and discover that he/she has died. That is what is described as SIDS.

History of SIDS SIDS is at least 2,000 years old. SIDS has been mentioned in the Bible. SIDS was around since the Middle Ages In 1969 Dr. Marie Valdes Dapnea had nine theories of explaining crib death. At that time they came up with the name of SIDS.

Risk Factors SIDS occurs randomly and without warning. Currently there are over 400 theories on what causes SIDS but there are still no specifically identifiable symptoms of this disease prior to death. But here are a few risk factors that some doctors think may be related to SIDS: –Native Americans and African Americans are 2-3 times more likely to get SIDS than any other race. –Males are 50% more likely to die of SIDS than females. –Infants having a slight cold before being put to sleep. –Infants being rocked may have contributed to the death of an infant. –May be caused because of skull abnormalities –Stressful environment –Parents smoking before birth of the child

Diagnostic Tests In order to try to diagnose SIDS by ruling out other illnesses the following tests will be performed on the deceased: Apgar Score Blood tests Examination of the death scene. Checks for recent illnesses such as: –Ear infection –Fever –Flu

Reducing Risk of SIDS Currently there are no cures for SIDS however here are some ways to reduce the risk of death: –Having an infant sleep on its back can highly reduce the risk of SIDS. However, some doctors say that having an infant sleep on their back can also cause skull deformities. –Using a firm mattress and keeping soft objects out of the crib will reduce the risk. –Don’t use loose blankets in the infant’s bed –Infants should not be too hot when sleeping.

Research and discoveries about SIDS Excess CO 2 in the brain is thought to contribute to SIDS –When babies sleep face down or have their face covered by bedding, they are thought to re-breath exhaled CO 2 therefore breathing less oxygen. Some research has shown that brain abnormality can cause SIDS. –Normal brains sense excess CO 2 levels and make the infants wake up. Infants with brain abnormality don’t sense the high CO 2 levels and will not wake up to breath faster and get more oxygen. Infants who had a cold experienced higher CO 2 levels than normal. Babies who roll from their side to their stomach while they sleep are 18 times more likely to die of SIDS. An interesting fact is that babies experience no suffering.

Normal brain vs Abnormal brain Defects in the serotonin system are thought to impair the reflexes that cause the baby to wake up when CO 2 level is too high. SIDS brains have more serotonergic neurons (blue dots) in the brain stem than normal brains.

The Age One Typically Gets SIDS Occurs between the ages of 1-12 months. 70% are less than four months old 20% between four and six months old.

How a Person’s Life is Affected SIDS doesn’t affect the child but it definitely affects the parents of the child. SIDS is a very tragic disease which can really make the parents sad and could eventually maybe even lead to depression. It impacts the siblings, grandparents, and all of the family when an infant dies….especially a newborn one.

Costs There is no monetary cost of SIDS except for maybe having a funeral. The cost may also be a flat skull because in order to prevent SIDS you should have the infant sleep on its back which then puts pressure on the back of its skull which is still soft.

Diagrams U.S. Annual SIDS Rate per 1000 live births

Bibliography Joani, Horchler. SIDS and Infant Death Survival Guide. Hyattsville, MD: SIDS Educational Services Inc for-sudden-infant-death-syndromehttp://stanford.wellsphere.com/pregnancy-fertility-article/tests-diagnostics- for-sudden-infant-death-syndrome 1sublevel258.html infections/story?id= afety_monitors Sears, William. SIDS A Parent. 1st ed. Canada: Little, Brown, & Company, Scienceclassifed.com

Conclusion I decided to research SIDS because I wanted to understand why babies would suddenly die for no reason after being put to sleep. One of the most interesting facts was that babies don’t experience any pain or suffering. I most enjoyed researching the diagrams because they helped me see the difference between a SIDS brain and a regular brain. The report also shows the decrease of SIDS over time with a great bar graph. One of the most important sources of information that I used was the internet because there was so much information and that was where I was able to find my graphs. I would still like to see if there is a cure for SIDS. I feel that my main strength of writing the report was the description of SIDS because it is very straight forward and easy to write. My main weakness that I felt was doing the “Costs” section because there is not very much information on that section.