BMJ  2008;336:302-304 (9 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.39455.496146.AD

Feature

Sudden infant death

Does cot death still exist?

¹ London

With leading researchers saying smoking and other modifiable factors account for most sudden infant deaths, Jonathan Gornall asks whether it is time to put the diagnosis to bed

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

There are no cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. "I simply don’t believe in SIDS deaths," says chief deputy coroner Annie Groves. "If you do a complete investigation, you will find a cause of death."

Coroner Groves’s confidence may sit uncomfortably with many professionals in the United Kingdom, where even the use of the word "unascertained" in unexplained infant deaths is frowned upon because it carries "implications that the death may have been the result of neglect or abuse."¹ But in America she is not alone in her certainty.

The Vanderburgh experience is one of many highlighted by a review of 40 000 infant deaths between 1992 and 2004 that concludes the quality of investigations carried out into sudden infant deaths in America "varies irrationally."²

The nationwide review, conducted by the Scripps Howard News Service, found that the protocol for the investigation of sudden unexpected . . . [Full text of this article]

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