Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) refers to the sudden death of an infant that is under one year old, and which is not explained by other factors. The cause of SIDS is still unknown, but there are risk factors, which include overly soft sleeping surfaces and having a sibling who died of SIDS. It is the leading cause of death in the US for babies aged one month to one year. As many as 2,300 infants die from SIDS every year in the US, according to Boston Children's Hospital. Investigators have been learning more about how to identify infants who may be at risk for SIDS. In new research reported in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers have found metabolic biomarkers in samples from infants who died from SIDS that may one day help identify the causes or predict potential SIDS victims.
Some factors that may increase SIDS risk have been identified by previous work, such as smoking or alcohol use during pregnancy, air pollution, inadequate prenatal care, and structural racism. There may not be one, single cause of SIDS. Statistics have also shown that male infants are at higher risk than females. But scientists and clinicians also want to find screening tools, or potential preventative medications.
This study has suggested that metabolic factors could be a critical factor in SIDS, and patterns in these biomarkers might help not only predict who is at risk, but may also help prevent the disorder, noted first study author Scott Oltman, MS, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Previous work has shown that metabolism could be related to SIDS. In this study, the scientists delved into that link, and compared metabolic data from different infants in California. Some of these infants were healthy and unaffected while others eventually died of SIDS.
This study revealed that there were some metabolic biomarkers in the 354 infants who had died from SIDS and were assessed in this study; these biomarkers might show who is at risk for the disease. Infants who were found to have lower C-3 levels and higher C-14OH levels compared to other infants appeared to have a higher SIDS risk, for example. This confirms previous work that has indicated that certain fatty acid oxidation enzymes are related to SIDS.
Some other elevated biomarkers were also identified that seem to be linked to an increased risk of SIDS.
More research will still be needed to confirm these findings and create tests that can be applied in the clinic. A SIDS screening test is probably still a long way off, but this work has shown that it may be possible to create one eventually.
"This study is a critical step toward integrating metabolic markers with potential genetic markers and other risk factors to better assess the risk of SIDS in infants," Oltman said.
Now the investigators want to evaluate some other metabolic biomarkers and genetic characteristics to look for other potential SIDS identifiers, contributors, or biomarkers.
Sources: University of California, San Francisco; JAMA Pediatrics