The Epidemiology of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Attacks of Lifelessness in Sweden

Abstract

Infants who died showing the syndrome of sudden infant death (SIDS) and infants who survived attacks of lifelessness (AL) were examined in a prospective epidemiological multicentre study over 24 months covering close to 40% of all births in Sweden. Seventy SIDS cases and 34 cases of AL were observed, giving an incidence for SIDS of 0.94/1000 and for AL of 0.46/1000. This SIDS incidence is higher than that observed during the seventies. The boy/girl ratio was 1.4:1 for SIDS and 1.6:1 for AL. The age distribution for AL resembled that for SIDS. Similarities were also seen with regard to place of occurrence. Sixty per cent of the SIDS cases occurred during the daytime/evening. Twenty-nine per cent of the infants with AL had more than one apneic spell during the three-day-period around the attack, indicating a period of respiratory instability, but only 12% had such spells later on. None of the infants who had had AL died from SIDS. The possible relationship between AL and SIDS is discussed.

Respiratory and arousal responses to hypoxia in apnoeic infants reinvestigated

“…Of the apnoeic infants studied, 25% had repeated attacks in conjunction with the main episode [31]. This emphasises the need for close supervision and investigation during the immediate period after the apnoeic event.…”

“…Infants with doubtful apnoeas and apnoeas during wakefulness were excluded. The infants studied were assumed to represent real cases of "near-SID", since their epidemiological data closely resembled that of infants who actually died of SID during the period of study [31].…”

“…These patients were a part of a larger group of apnoeic infants recently evaluated in a collaborative epidemiological study [31]. They were selected from referred cases of apnoea of infancy on the basis of the following criteria:…”

Scheinbar lebensbedrohliche Ereignisse im Säuglingsalter

“…Dies erscheint logisch, da bei einem hohen Prozentsatz (>30%) mit weiteren ALE innerhalb der nächsten Wochen gerechnet werden muss [22]. Problematisch ist bis heute die hohe Fehlalarmrate bei allen am Markt befindlichen Geräten.…”

Prevalence of epilepsy and seizure disorders as causes of apparent life- threatening event (ALTE) in children admitted to a tertiary hospital

“…Brooks found an inci-dence of 0.5% to 6% in a pediatric population 2 . Later studies found an incidence of 0.6-0.8% in infants seen in British emergency departments, 2.27% among children hospitalized in France, and 0.05% in sweden [4][5][6] . Population studies reported that ALTE was diagnosed in 2.46/1000 live births in Tyrol and in 9.4/1000 in New Zealand 7,8 .…”