Sudden Unexpected Infant Death
Research on the causes of sudden infant death encompasses many disciplines. Current literature reflects the results of a wide range of medical and clinical approaches, as well as forensic and legal investigations.
Journal Alerts
Journal Alerts -- weekly summaries of the latest in medical research on infant death and risk reduction for infant death -- are available from the National SIDS and Infant Death Resource Center or online through the ASIP/MCHB Listserv.
National Center for Health Statistics
The National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is the nation’s principal health statistics agency. NCHS compiles statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve the health of people living in the United States.
Selected key findings for the 2003 final mortality data for the United States include information on infant mortality. The findings come from information reported on death certificates completed by funeral directors, attending physicians, medical examiners, and coroners.
National Institute for Child Health and Human Development
Strategic Plan
The National Institute for Child Health and Human Development developed a five year plan (2000-2005), From Cells to Selves, to guide their research agenda. Their comprehensive approach includes a strategic plan, Targeting Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Current Research
To review the research that NICHD funds in the areas of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, SIDS, Stillbirth and related issues, go to CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects), a searchable database of federally funded biomedical research projects conducted at universities, hospitals, and other research institutions. To conduct a search, click on Go to CRISP Query Form and enter the keyword(s).
NICHD has also put research into practice with the Back-to-Sleep Campaign. Data from the National Infant Sleep Position Study, developed by NICHD to examine sleep practices and factors associated with adherence to the back-to-sleep recommendations, are available from 1992 through 2005. The NISP study has conducted an annual telephone survey of nighttime caregivers of infants less than 8 months of age in 48 coterminous states to assess infant care practices and dissemination of the American Academy of Pediatics' recommendation regarding infant sleep position and related care practices.
NICHD supports a Stillbirth Research Collaborative Network, consisting of five research centers around the country and an independent data center to collect and analyze statistics on stillbirth. The research and statistical centers collaborate with the NICHD to design studies to determine the causes of stillbirth. The five-year effort, begun in 20003, will also seek to develop standardized research guidelines for reporting and investigating stillbirths.
Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency has investigated the possible relationship of SIDS to indoor air quality. The research has focused on indoor levels of carbon dioxide and lead in the nursery.
First Candle/SIDS Alliance
First Candle funds research at medical institutions throughout the U.S. and Canada to further the understanding of SIDS, Stillbirth and other causes of infant death. The medical research program is conducted under the auspices of the Medical and Scientific Adivisory Council, an internationally recognized body of senior level pediatric scientists.
CJ Foundation for SIDS
The CJ Foundation for SIDS funds research in the areas of SIDS and SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood). Prospective applicants for Research Grants should contact the Assistant Executive Director, Programs and Grants at 866-314-7437, or wendy@cjsids.com.
Research on Sudden Unexpected Infant Death has also examined the role of the infant caregiver in reducing the risk of infant death. Caregivers may influence the baby's physical environment, including the sleep environment, which has been found to be a major risk factor for sudden unexpected infant death, SIDS, and death by positional asphyxiation.
Maternal and Child Health Bureau
As part of the MCHB Healthy Child Care America initiative, the American Academy of Pediatrics has designed a study to test the effectiveness of their ongoing efforts to educate child care providers, health professionals, and others about safe sleep practices in child care settings. Four states (that meet specific criteria) have been selected (CA, LA, MT, PA) to receive state specific train-the-trainer instruction for the care of infants under the age of 12 months from Dr. Rachel Moon and colleagues. Once state regulatory agents, child care consultants and resource referral staff have been trained, the regulatory agents will visit the identified programs (unannounced) to observe the extent to which safe sleep practices and policies are in place. Through 2006, the states will complete the training, unannounced inspections will be made, and associated data will be collected and provided to Dr. Moon for analysis.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is an ongoing state- and population-based surveillance system designed to collect information on self-reported maternal behaviors and experiences that occur around the time of pregnancy. PRAMS generates statewide estimates of perinatal health indicators among women who recently delivered a live infant. Each participating state uses a standardized data collection method developed by CDC. PRAMS staff in each state collect data with mail and telephone questionnaires. Because PRAMS data are state- and population-based, findings are generalizable to an entire state’s population of women delivering a live-born infant. Several states have included a question regarding sleep position in their surveys.
PRAMS data may be used by states to advocate for policy changes that will improve maternal and child health. Georgia used PRAMS data to influence a change in infant sleep position (2003). Read about this and other state strategies in the report, Using Surveillance To Promote Public Health: Examples from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS).
CDC has also supported the collection of information from death scene investigation as a way to learn more about Sudden Unexplained Infant Death. Studies have shown that since 1999, some deaths previously classified as SIDS are now classified as due to accidental suffocation or unknown/unspecified cause. This finding suggests that changes in reporting of cause of death may account for part of the recent decrease in SIDS rates. CDC launched an initiative in 2004 to improve the investigation and reporting of SUID, in collaboration with other federal agencies and organizations representing medical examiners, coroners, death scene investigators, emergency medical personnel, law enforcement officials, forensic nurses, SIDS researchers, infant death review experts, and parents who have experienced a death of an infant. As part of this effort, on March 1, 2006, CDC released the Sudden, Unexplained Infant Death Investigation (SUIDI) Reporting Form for state and local use in infant death scene investigations. CDC and the expert team also developed a comprehensive training curriculum and materials for infant death scene investigations.
