sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS
which is also known as cot death or crib
death is the sudden and unexplainable
death of an infant during their first
year of life because of the seemingly
random nature of this condition there
are a number of risk factors that seem
to correlate with getting SIDS
but there's no clear mechanism or cause
that's been identified since is
considered a diagnosis of exclusion
meaning all other causes have to be
ruled out before an infant death is
given that label the most well known
risk factors have to do with how an
infant sleeps to lower the risk of SIDS
the recommendation is to make sure that
babies sleep alone in a crib on their
backs and without blankets the risk of
SIDS is higher among boys rather than
girls as well as infants between two and
four months old and among formula-fed
babies and those born prematurely or
with low birth weight
risk factors that relate to a mother
include receiving little or no prenatal
care being a teenage mother and smoking
during the pregnancy alcohol consumption
is also thought to be a risk factor
because there are more cases of SIDS
during weekends the new year and other
times of the year when drinkies included
in celebrations the fact that far more
boys died of SIDS than girls shows that
there is a level of genetic
susceptibility at play but the exact
specifics are unclear a minority of SIDS
related deaths show a correlation with
genetically inherited channel APPA thiis
which are defects in ion channels that
affect a variety of tissues including
the heart another possible genetic link
is the higher incidence of SIDS in
babies with gene mutations involved in
the autonomic nervous system these clues
though are still being researched and no
exact gene or combination of genetic
defects has been identified SIDS is
generally thought to happen in children
that have a genetic susceptibility which
is then triggered by external factors
an epidemiologic clue is that Native
American infants have the highest rates
of SIDS while Asian infants have the
lowest rates of SIDS cultural practices
around sleep though might also play a
role and so it makes it hard to tease
apart genetic and environmental factors
when it comes to race a diagnosis of
SIDS can only be made following an
autopsy to make sure that there isn't an
alternative explanation for an infant's
death for prevention unfortunately
because the underlying cause of SIDS is
usually unknown
there's no surefire way to prevent it
all right as a quick recap sudden infant
death syndrome or SIDS is a diagnosis of
exclusion given to an infant that dies
of unknown causes and is most common in
infant boys between two and four months
of age but can happen anytime in the
first year of life to minimize the risk
of SIDS infants should be put to sleep
on their back should not be exposed to
cigarette smoke and should be breastfed
if possible
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