Sudden infant death syndrome, prematurity and sleeping position
Journal Title: Archives of Medical Science - Year 2005, Vol 1, Issue 2
Abstract
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), an unexpected death of an infant which remains unexplained after a thorough investigation, is the commonest cause of postneonatal mortality in the developed world. Prematurely born infants are at an increased risk of SIDS, particularly if they are slept prone. It is, therefore, important to understand why infants die of SIDS and the effects of prone sleeping position on prematurely born infants. Possible mechanisms of SIDS include failure to arouse, infection and genetic predisposition. Impaired arousal has been described during prone sleeping and in infants exposed to maternal smoking. Infection is associated with an increase in both duration and depth of quiet sleep and arousability is depressed. Infants may be at an increased risk of SIDS because of mutations leading to genetic disorders capable of causing death or having polymorphisms that might predispose to death in critical situations. The prone position has physiological advantages for prematurely born infants with and without respiratory distress in the immediate neonatal period. The few data on convalescent babies demonstrate prone posture has an advantage in improving oxygenation in infants with BPD, but is associated with less spontaneous arousals and more central apnoeas. These data emphasize that practitioners must emphasize to parents the importance of sleeping their prematurely born infants supine at the high-risk age for SIDS.
Authors and Affiliations
Harish Rao, Anne Greenough
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP159764
- DOI -
- Views 161
- Downloads 0
An analysis of coronarography results and selected cardiac risk factors in patients with acute coronary syndrome according to the level of cardiac troponin T
Introduction: There are many classical cardiac risk factors leading to acute coronary syndromes (ACS): arterial hypertension (HA), diabetes mellitus (DM), lipid disorders, family history (FH), smoking (Sm), obesity. The...
Haptoglobin polymorphism correlated with coronary artery disease
Cholinesterase inhibitors for Parkinson’s disease-related visual hallucinations unresponsive to atypical antipsychotics
Introduction: Considering lack of accepted guideline in cases of Parkinson’s disease-related visual hallucinations with poor response or intolerance to antipsychotics, and their possible cholinergic pathogenesis, the tri...
Epidemiological aspects of pregnant women with human immunodeficiency virus in Brazil
Introduction: The aims of the current study are to report on preliminary epidemiological data of pregnant women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Material and methods: HIV tests of 4653 pregnant women from Săo Jo...
Metabolic management of diabetic patients with ischaemic heart disease