SIDS Clue Found

Could the silent killer in babies, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), be caused by an imbalance of serotonin in the brain? New research in mice has pointed to this new clue, where imbalanced serotonin, a chemical mainly known to balance one's mood, has lead to death in mice.

The new study, conducted by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, has indicated that serotonin may lend clues to the cause of SIDS. During the study, Cornelius Gross, Ph.D., and others used engineered mice, with very low serotonin levels, and found that the changes in the brain could result in death. Over half of the mice used during the study, suddenly died before they were 3 months old. Before they died, many experienced erratic episodes of their heart rate dropping, and within 10 minutes their body temperature also dropped. Gross reported that the mice would either die during these episodes or afterward. While researchers caution that the exact defects in the mice are not the same as those in babies, the heart and temperature problems in the mice were similar to the problems found in the babies studied in the limited research, noted Dr. Marian Willinger, of Children's Hospital Boston.

Serotonin plays an important role in depression, anger, the regulation of body temperature, breathing, a person's disposition, arousal from sleep, sexuality, appetite, heart rate, and can cause vomiting. While the new study isn't the first to point to serotonin as a link to the cause of SIDS, thus study helps to show that researchers are on the right track for possible causes, cures and treatments.

Many parents worry their babies will die from SIDS, because it sneaks up without any warning, in many otherwise healthy children. SIDS cases have decreased over the past twenty plus years, by half, but there are still around 2,500 cases reported in the U.S. annually and many more around the world. It is the leading cause of death in babies from one month to one year. The majority of SIDS deaths occur in infants between 2 and 4 months old, and deaths increase during cold weather. Caucasians are at risk the least while African-American babies chances of dying from SIDS are double and Native American infants are almost three times as likely to die of SIDS compared to Caucasian babies. For no known reason, boys seem more likely than girls to fall victim to SIDS.

Though researchers have not determined the cause of SIDS deaths, they have determined some steps that seem to have reduced the number of cases seen across the U.S. in the past two decades. The main adjustment occurred in 1992 when doctors began recommending that parents lay babies, up to one year of age, to sleep on their backs, rather than stomachs. A few risk factors that have been determined are, smoking, drinking or using drugs when pregnant, lack of prenatal care, premature births or low birth weights, mothers under the age of 20, exposure to second hand smoke, overheating, and stomach sleeping.

The AAFP has several suggestions to reduce the risk of SIDS in babies:

• Only use a firm mattress to put a baby to sleep.
• Never lay a baby on a pillow, waterbed, or other soft surfaces.
• Do not place blankets, comforters, stuffed toys, or pillows close to the baby when sleeping.
• Prevent overheating.
• Maintain regular prenatal care.
• Maintain regular well baby visits.
• No smoking, drinking or using drugs while pregnant.
• Do not expose babies to second hand smoke.
• Breastfeed if possible.
• Put a baby to sleep with a pacifier if at all possible, but don't force the baby to take the pacifier.
• Parents avoid putting the baby to sleep in your bed.

The new exciting clues, to the cause of SIDS, researchers hope will one day lead to tests that may detect newborns that are at risk. Hopefully, the new clues and growing awareness of SIDS will reduce the risks of SIDS and reduce the number of parent's searching for answers.
The study results can be seen in the July 4 issue of the journal Science