Sudden Unexpected Infant Death
Prevention Efforts: A national “Back to Sleep” campaign was begun in 1994, by the National Institute of Child Heath and Human Development to increase public awareness of the dangers of placing children on their stomachs to sleep. In it, parents are also advised to remove unsafe bedding from cribs and to not overdress sleeping infants. Statistical data shows that the program has been successful in dramatically reducing the incidence of SIDS deaths in the United States. For instance, in Illinois, 298 babies died of SIDS in 1990. In 2006, the last year for which statistics are available, the number had been reduced to 83.
While the “Back to Sleep” effort has made great strides in educating parents and caregivers as to the modifiable risks of SIDS, there are still, obviously, many families suffering this loss every year. Continuing research seeks to find answers as to why infants continue to be lost to SIDS. In a study published on February 4, 2010, researchers have found that infants who die of SIDS have a serotonin abnormality in their brainstems that affects responses to breathing and carbon dioxide, as well as to temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. Perhaps these findings and others, in concert with “Back to Sleep” practices, will reduce or end the incidence of SIDS altogether.
