PERSPECTIVE
SIDS
How reliable are SIDS rates? The importance of a standardised, multiprofessional approach to "diagnosis"
Institute of Child Life and Health, University of Bristol, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Prof. P Fleming
Institute of Child Life and Health, UBHT Education Centre, Upper Maudlin St, Bristol BS2 8AE, UK; peter.fleming@bris.ac.uk
Commentary on the paper by Sheehan et al (see page1082)
Keywords: sudden infant death syndrome; sudden unexpected death in infancy; multiprofessional review; classification of infant deaths
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
As a "diagnosis", sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is unique in that the definition is reached by exclusion: by failing to show an adequate cause of death. The "diagnosis" of SIDS is inevitably subjective and imprecise as it depends on the knowledge, skill, and thoroughness of the professionals who obtain the clinical history, conduct the evaluation of the circumstances of the death, and perform the postmortem examination, as well as the synthesis and interpretation of this information.
Even if each of these component parts of the investigation have been conducted to a specified standard, the collection of this information is not the end point but should be the starting point for a multidisciplinary review process in which the professionals involved should jointly examine the evidence, highlight concerns, and decide on the cause of death. This multidisciplinary approach has been used effectively in the field of SIDS research,1 has been
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- How reliable are SIDS rates?
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Arch. Dis. Child. 2005 90: 1082-1083.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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