Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Epidemiology

SIDS was responsible for 0.543 deaths per 1,000 live births in the US in 2005. It is responsible for far fewer deaths than congenital disorders and disorders related to short gestation, though it is the leading cause of death in healthy infants after one month of age.

SIDS deaths in the US decreased from 4,895 in 1992 to 2,247 in 2004. But, during a similar time period, 1989 to 2004, SIDS being listed as the cause of death for sudden infant death (SID) decreased from 80% to 55%. According to Dr. John Kattwinkel, chairman of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Special Task Force on SIDS "A lot of us are concerned that the rate (of SIDS) isn't decreasing significantly, but that a lot of it is just code shifting".

A set of 14 epidemiologic characteristics associated with SIDS have been identified:

A characteristic 4-parameter lognormal age distribution;
Increased risk associated with prone sleep position;
Prone and supine SIDS have same age and gender distributions;
Male and female SIDS have same age distribution;
Total sudden respiratory deaths at home have same age and gender distributions;
No evidence of cause of death at forensic autopsy and death scene investigation;
SIDS spares infants at birth;
Seasonality: winter maximum, summer minimum;
Increasing SIDS rate with Live Birth Order;
Consistent male excess of approximately 50%;
Low increased risk of SIDS in subsequent siblings of SIDS;
Parental smoking is a risk factor for SIDS;
Apparent Life Threatening Events (ALTE) are not a risk factor for subsequent SIDS;
SIDS risk is greatest during sleep.