NCJ Number
143439
Journal
New England Journal of Medicine Volume: 315 Issue: 2 Dated: (July 10, 1986) Pages: 100-105
Date Published
1986
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Researchers conducted death-scene investigations on a sample of 26 infants, aged 1 month to 1 year, who were brought to the emergency room of a New York hospital and assigned a presumptive diagnosis of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Abstract
Data were collected regarding the position of the infant when found at the time of death, number of people in the household and their various roles and/or unusual behavior, the house's environmental conditions, the infant's nightclothes, and possible furnace leaks. In six of the 26 cases, evidence of accidental death was strong. In the remaining cases, causes of death other than SIDS were identified including accidental asphyxiation by an object in the crib, smothering by overlying while sharing a bed with an adult, hyperthermia, and shaken baby syndrome. The results suggest that the extremely high incidence of SIDS (4.2 per 1,000 live births) in the low socioeconomic status population served by this hospital should be questioned. 1 table and 43 references