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Death from SIDS more likely in siblings of victims
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Children with a sibling who died from sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, had an increased risk for dying of SIDS compared with those in the general population, according to data presented at EHRA 2018.
“SIDS remains a leading cause of death during the first year of life, affecting thousands of infants each year in Europe and the U.S.,” Charlotte Glinge, MD, and PhD student at The Heart Centre at the University Hospital of Copenhagen in Denmark, said in a press release.
Researchers used administrated and health registries in Denmark and analyzed data of nearly 2.5 million infants under 1 year of age between 1978 and 2015.
Children were followed up until death, SIDS, aged 1 year, emigration or the end of the study, whichever came first.
During follow-up, 1,535 infants died of SIDS and a total of 2,373 siblings of these SIDS victims were identified and followed.
Siblings of infants who died from SIDS had a fourfold increased risk for SIDS compared with the general population.
“This result indicates that heritable factors may contribute to SIDS and argue for a multidisciplinary genetic evaluation, including cardiogenic evaluation, of families with SIDS,” Glinge and colleagues wrote. – by Darlene Dobkowski
Reference:
Glinge C, et al. Abstract 40494. Presented at: European Heart Rhythm Association 2018; March 18-20, 2018; Barcelona, Spain.
Disclosures: The study was supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the H2020 Program of the EU ESCAPE-NET project. Glinge reports she was funded by the University Hospital of Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet in Denmark.