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PEDIATRICS Vol. 114 No. 1 July 2004, pp. 234-238

SPECIAL ARTICLE

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Unclassified Sudden Infant Deaths: A Definitional and Diagnostic Approach

Henry F. Krous, MD*, J. Bruce Beckwith, MD{ddagger}, Roger W. Byard, MD§, Torleiv O. Rognum, MD, PhD||, Thomas Bajanowski, MD, Tracey Corey, MD#, Ernest Cutz, MD*, Randy Hanzlick, MD{ddagger}{ddagger}, Thomas G. Keens, MD§§ and Edwin A. Mitchell, MD||||

* Department of Pathology, Children’s Hospital San Diego, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, San Diego, California
{ddagger} Department of Pathology and Human Anatomy, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California
§ Forensic Science Centre and Departments of Paediatrics and Pathology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
|| Rettsmedisinsk Institutt and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Institut fur Rechtsmedizin and University of Essen, Essen, Germany
# Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky
** Department of Pediatric Laboratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
{ddagger}{ddagger} Emory University School of Medicine and the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Center, Atlanta, Georgia
§§ Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
|||| Department of Paediatrics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

The definition of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) originally appeared in 1969 and was modified 2 decades later. During the following 15 years, an enormous amount of additional information has emerged, justifying additional refinement of the definition of SIDS to incorporate epidemiologic features, risk factors, pathologic features, and ancillary test findings. An expert panel of pediatric and forensic pathologists and pediatricians considered these issues and developed a new general definition of SIDS for administrative and vital statistics purposes. The new definition was then stratified to facilitate research into sudden infant death. Another category, defined as unclassified sudden infant deaths, was introduced for cases that do not meet the criteria for a diagnosis of SIDS and for which alternative diagnoses of natural or unnatural conditions were equivocal. It is anticipated that these new definitions will be modified in the future to accommodate new understanding of SIDS and sudden infant death.

Key Words: SIDS • sudden infant death

Abbreviations: SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome

Received for publication Mar 1, 2004; Accepted Mar 4, 2004.




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