© 2005 BMJ Publishing Group & Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
LEADING ARTICLE
Cardiology
Is there a relation between SIDS and long QT syndrome?
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr J R Skinner
Paediatric cardiologist/electrophysiologist, Starship Children’s Hospital, Park Road, Auckland, New Zealand; JSkinner@adhb.govt.nz
A discussion of the evidence to date
Abbreviations: QTc, heart rate corrected QT interval; SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome; SUNDS, sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome
Keywords: cardiac channelopathy; long QT syndrome; SIDS; SUNDS
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Long QT syndrome causes sudden unexpected death through rapid ventricular tachycardia ("torsades de pointes") leading to ventricular fibrillation (see figs 1
and 2).1,2 The postmortem examination reveals no cause for the death. These characteristics make long QT syndrome a plausible cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and many research efforts have been made to investigate a possible link. The genetic forms of long QT syndrome are usually inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion (Romano-Ward syndrome). Yet gene carriers can be asymptomatic, and around a third can even have a normal ECG.3 Therefore the condition might theoretically cause multiple SIDS within a family, with apparently healthy parents. It has been suggested that parents in such families might have been wrongfully accused of murder.4,5
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Figure 1 (A) This six lead rhythm strip from an infant with syndactyly and long QT syndrome shows gross prolongation of the QT interval. Two p waves | |||||||||
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