Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Although infant mortality rates have declined since 1999, there was a recent spike in sudden unexpected infant deaths from 2020 to 2022, according to data published in JAMA Pediatrics.

As genome sequencing becomes faster and cheaper, Wendy K. Chung, MD, PhD, is assessing whether it should be standard for newborn screenings across the United States.

Researchers identified metabolic markers from routine newborn screenings that were associated with sudden infant death syndrome and built a model that could predict the probability of SIDS, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Nearly 60% of sudden unexpected infant deaths occur while the infant is sharing a sleep surface with another person, according to study findings published in Pediatrics.

The rate of sudden unexpected infant deaths increased significantly among Black children in 2020, possibly because of COVID-19, researchers reported in Pediatrics.

The risk for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, was nearly 12 times higher in infants with mothers who both smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol beyond the first trimester of pregnancy, according to a study published in EClinicalMedicine.

Cases of sudden unexpected infant death, or SUID, that occur at 0 to 6 days differ significantly from cases that occur at days 7 to 364 in regard to factors like live birth order and marital status, according to study results published in Pediatrics. Researchers suggested that the two groups be separated in future research.