Sudden infant death sydnrome, or SIDS, is the number one cause of death in infants. There is no true understanding about the cause or mechanism behind SIDS, but a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found new evidence that an abnormality of the brainstem may partly be to blame.
Researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston and Harvard University performed autopsies on 41 infants, 31 of whom died from a SIDS related death. During autopsy they found that infants whose deaths resulted from SIDS has significant abnormalities in the area of the brain stem known as the medulla oblongata compared to infants whose deaths were not attributed to SIDS.
This area of the brainstem is involved in signalling respiratory centers in the brain when carbon dioxide and oxygen levels are abnormal. A normal functioning medulla oblongata would send a signal via seratonin, a neurotransmitter, to the respiratory centers in the brain, which would signal the motor centers to cause a positional change or increase in breathing rate or depth. This signal that occurs in the brainstem is part of a complex physiological reflex that may be absent in some infants and would increase their susceptibility of dying from SIDS.
Other risk factors for SIDS include sleeping on one's stomach (prone position), soft bedding, exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke, and exposure to cigarette smoke during pregnancy.
The researchers believe that this abnormal area of the brain may result in an abnormal or lack of response to higher than healthy levels of carbon dioxide being breathed by the infant. This can occur if the infant is covered with a blanket or laying with its face down.
More research is coming in the future and this study may help lead the way to a possible screening test and treatment for infants with this brainstem abnormality.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on November 8, 2006 04:10 PM
