Sudden infant death syndrome - A 'diagnosis' looking for a disease

Abstract

Although Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the major cause of death in infants aged between 1 week and 1 year in Western countries, it is one of the most enigmatic conditions encountered in paediatric forensic practice. SIDS has been recognized since Biblical times, and yet the definition continues to be debated and the aetiology remains obscure. In addition, there are no accepted pathognomonic features at post-mortem and the diagnosis is still one of exclusion. Emery once asked whether the term 'SIDS' is in reality more of a 'diagnostic dustbin' into which are placed a variety of unrelated entities.(1) To a certain extent this is true, as it is now recognized that a range of disorders can result in the sudden and unexpected death of an infant in a cot. It is also likely that the aetiology of SIDS is heterogeneous and that the term SIDS is not so much a diagnosis but a term covering a variety of mechanisms which result in a common lethal outcome. There are a number of controversies in the SIDS field which complicate the use of the term and which confound the assessment of causes and mechanisms of sudden infant death.