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Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Need for Simple Definition but Detailed Diagnostic Criteria
Torleiv Ole Rognum, MD, PhD
Institute of Forensic Medicine
University of Oslo
The National Hospital
0027 Oslo
Norway
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157:293.
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Since the term SIDS was first used 33 years ago, the definition of this syndrome has caused lots of controversy, some tragedies, and many blessings. Without the focus on SIDS as an entity, the epidemic of infants dying in the prone sleeping position would probably have been prolonged. That the back-to-sleep campaign has saved many thousands of infants' lives is quantitatively much more important than the sad fact that the syndrome has been used to conceal homicide. The term per exclusion is of course a great problem constituting a persistent temptation to use it as a diagnostic dustbin.
Diagnostic work may be very complicated. The pathologist's dream would be a red lamp on the microscope lighting up when the right diagnosis is established. Very often, however, diagnoses are built on a set of observations: some positive and some negative. In the case of SIDS, most . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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