Metabolic data from babies who died of sudden infant death syndrome , or SIDs, could help predict the devastating condition, new research has revealed. SIDs is responsible for the sudden and unexpected deaths of approximately 3,500 infants every year in the United States, primarily in boys, with Black, Native American and Alaska Native infants twice as likely to die than white babies. Now, a study led by doctors in San Francisco have identified a correlation between certain signals, or biomarkers, in the metabolism of infants who died of SIDS .
The authors found that infants with lower levels of the biomarkers C-3 and elevated levels of C-14OH appeared to have a higher risk of mortality from SIDS. The biomarkers are enzymes of fatty acid oxidation, the process in which the body breaks down the building blocks of fat to produce energy. Several other biomarkers seemed to result in a reduced risk of SIDS when they were elevated.
Co-author and neonatologist Dr. Elizabeth Rogers stressed that they don’t yet know the specific contributing drivers to their observations – likely a combination of environmental and biological ones – but that’s why more work needs to be done. “But, this is such a strong signal, that it signals where this work can now proceed to hopefully get to prevention and/or treatment,” she said.
The preliminary findings, published last week in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, were based on the metabolic data from newborn screenings in California, comparing .