BMJ 1994;309:607 (3 September)

Letters

Definition of the sudden infant death syndrome Keep current definition

EDITOR, - In 1992, at the second international conference on the sudden infant death syndrome in Australia, it was decided to keep the 1969 definition: "the death of an infant or young child, which is unexpected by history and in whom a thorough necropsy examination fails to reveal an adequate cause of death." Caroline Rambaud and colleagues regard this definition of exclusion as "questionable,"1 but we consider that it is essential until more is known of the causes and mechanisms of sudden death in infancy. Although opinion differs over what constitutes "thorough" necropsy examination and what is an adequate cause of death, Rambaud and colleagues understate the wide international agreement on these issues that has been achieved over the past decade.2

Minor histological abnormalities are frequently seen in victims of the sudden infant death syndrome at necropsy. Less than a fifth of sudden unexpected deaths are explained by "diseases of . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Sudden infant death syndrome among Asians in Britain
I S Farooqi, G Y H Lip, and D G Beevers
BMJ 1994 309: 1232. [Extract] [Full Text]

Definition of the sudden infant death syndrome
C Rambaud, C Guilleminault, and P Campbell
BMJ 1994 308: 1439. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Farooqi, I S, Lip, G Y H, Beevers, D G (1994). Sudden infant death syndrome among Asians in Britain. BMJ 309: 1232a-1232 [Full text]  
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ