EDITOR, - The definition of the sudden infant death syndrome was called into question at the second international conference on the syndrome, in February 1992. As no consensus could be reached it was decided to keep the 1969 Beckwith 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.”

The issue is what constitutes an “adequate cause of death.” To base the definition of the sudden infant death syndrome on a diagnosis of exclusion is questionable. There is no current consensus on the minimum postmortem investigations that are needed to ensure …