Researchers at UC San Francisco are getting closer to being able to predict sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. In a study that appears Sept. 3 in JAMA Pediatrics , they identified signals in the metabolic system of infants who died of SIDS.
More research is needed, but this could one day help to prevent SIDS. This study suggests that metabolic factors may play a crucial role in SIDS. These patterns could help identify children at higher risk, potentially saving lives in the future.
" Scott Oltman, MS, epidemiologist at UCSF and first author of the study There may be no single cause of SIDS Each year about 1,300 infants under the age of 1 die from SIDS, and researchers still aren't sure what causes these unexpected deaths. What they do know is that there are likely multiple factors that play a role, including inadequate prenatal care, smoking and alcohol use during pregnancy, structural racism and air pollution. Male babies have a higher rate of SIDS than girls.
Researchers are turning to biology to look for a cause of SIDS that can be screened for at birth or targeted with medication. Investigators in this study knew from previous research that the metabolic system – how bodies process and store energy – might play a part in SIDS. They decided to examine the role of the metabolic system more closely, and compare metabolic data taken from infants as part of a routine newborn screening in California.
They compared the data of infants who eventually died from SIDS with si.