After spending years studying the explanation for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, doctors consider they’ve identified a cause, in keeping with a recent study published within the journal Neurology.
Temporary seizures accompanied by muscle convulsions have been named as a possible reason for the mysterious and tragic deaths — a tragic loss suffered by hundreds of families in the US every year.
“Our study, although small, offers the primary direct evidence that seizures could also be chargeable for some sudden deaths in children, which are frequently unwitnessed during sleep,” lead researcher, NYU Langone’s Dr. Laura Gould, said in an announcement.
SIDS, sometimes known as “crib death,” typically strikes infants younger than 6 months of age. The deaths normally occur during sleep. In older children, the inexplicable event is defined as a sudden unexplained death in children, or SUDC.
Gould helped to determine the SUDC Registry and Research Collaborative at NYU Langone after losing her 15-month-old daughter Maria to SUDC in 1997.
Her team of researchers at Recent York University studied greater than 300 SUDC cases within the registry, examining medical records and even video recordings of the babies sleeping, together with seven cases where death was considered prone to have been brought on by seizures.
The footage showed that the convulsions were found to have lasted for lower than 60 seconds — and that the unlucky events took place inside half-hour of the kid’s death.
“Convulsive seizures stands out as the smoking gun that medical science has been searching for to grasp why these children die,” study senior investigator and neurologist Dr. Orrin Devinsky, who helped Gould establish the registry, said in an announcement.
“Studying this phenomenon may additionally provide critical insight into many other deaths, including those from SIDS and epilepsy.”
Scientists have previously noted a connection between SUDC and seizures, finding that those that experienced febrile seizures (seizures accompanied by fever) were 10 times more prone to die suddenly and unexpectedly.
The team at NYU noted that they don’t have data to point out if fevers triggered the deaths they studied, but did find that several of the kids had signs of mild infections.
“If we will determine the kids in danger, perhaps we will change their end result,” Gould told NBC News.
Nonetheless, the experts note that further research is required to grasp exactly how seizures can result in death.
This breakthrough comes after one other team of researchers announced that low levels of a blood enzyme, called butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), could also be a possible explanation for SIDS. The enzyme plays a vital role in waking up.
“These families can now live with the knowledge that this was not their fault,” said lead researcher Dr. Carmel Harrington, of the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Recent South Wales, Australia, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Association concerning the BChE research.
Previously, physicians told parents to put a baby on their back to sleep — and to clear the crib of excess toys or covers that may cause their delicate bodies to overheat or prompt accidental strangulation or suffocation. But still, they couldn’t guarantee the newborn’s safety.
After spending years studying the explanation for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, doctors consider they’ve identified a cause, in keeping with a recent study published within the journal Neurology.
Temporary seizures accompanied by muscle convulsions have been named as a possible reason for the mysterious and tragic deaths — a tragic loss suffered by hundreds of families in the US every year.
“Our study, although small, offers the primary direct evidence that seizures could also be chargeable for some sudden deaths in children, which are frequently unwitnessed during sleep,” lead researcher, NYU Langone’s Dr. Laura Gould, said in an announcement.
SIDS, sometimes known as “crib death,” typically strikes infants younger than 6 months of age. The deaths normally occur during sleep. In older children, the inexplicable event is defined as a sudden unexplained death in children, or SUDC.
Gould helped to determine the SUDC Registry and Research Collaborative at NYU Langone after losing her 15-month-old daughter Maria to SUDC in 1997.
Her team of researchers at Recent York University studied greater than 300 SUDC cases within the registry, examining medical records and even video recordings of the babies sleeping, together with seven cases where death was considered prone to have been brought on by seizures.
The footage showed that the convulsions were found to have lasted for lower than 60 seconds — and that the unlucky events took place inside half-hour of the kid’s death.
“Convulsive seizures stands out as the smoking gun that medical science has been searching for to grasp why these children die,” study senior investigator and neurologist Dr. Orrin Devinsky, who helped Gould establish the registry, said in an announcement.
“Studying this phenomenon may additionally provide critical insight into many other deaths, including those from SIDS and epilepsy.”
Scientists have previously noted a connection between SUDC and seizures, finding that those that experienced febrile seizures (seizures accompanied by fever) were 10 times more prone to die suddenly and unexpectedly.
The team at NYU noted that they don’t have data to point out if fevers triggered the deaths they studied, but did find that several of the kids had signs of mild infections.
“If we will determine the kids in danger, perhaps we will change their end result,” Gould told NBC News.
Nonetheless, the experts note that further research is required to grasp exactly how seizures can result in death.
This breakthrough comes after one other team of researchers announced that low levels of a blood enzyme, called butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), could also be a possible explanation for SIDS. The enzyme plays a vital role in waking up.
“These families can now live with the knowledge that this was not their fault,” said lead researcher Dr. Carmel Harrington, of the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Recent South Wales, Australia, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Association concerning the BChE research.
Previously, physicians told parents to put a baby on their back to sleep — and to clear the crib of excess toys or covers that may cause their delicate bodies to overheat or prompt accidental strangulation or suffocation. But still, they couldn’t guarantee the newborn’s safety.
