sudden infant death syndrome

Examples of sudden infant death syndrome in the following topics:

• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

  • Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is not predicted by medical history.
  • Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is not predicted by medical history and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and detailed death scene investigation.
  • As infants are at the highest risk for SIDS during sleep, it is sometimes referred to as cot death or crib death.
  • Other notable characteristics are its disproportionate affliction of male infants and the fact that caregivers are unaware in the preceding 24 hours that the infant is at risk of imminent sudden death.
  • It should only be applied to an infant whose death is sudden and unexpected, and which remains unexplained after the performance of an adequate postmortem investigation, including: an autopsy, investigation of the death scene and circumstances of the death and exploration of the medical history of the infant and family.

• Teratogens

  • Smoking is most likely to cause growth retardation, but has also been implicated in prelabor rupture of the membranes, preterm labor, abruption of the placenta, spontaneous abortion, perinatal morbidity and mortality, and sudden infant death syndrome.
  • When consumed in pregnancy, it can result in mothers giving birth to children with fetal alcohol syndrome.

• Environmental Impacts on Prenatal Development

  • According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), smoking while pregnant can result in premature birth, low-birth-weight infants, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)—the sudden and unexplained death of a child less than one year of age.
  • Maternal infections such as viruses or parasites can also cause brain damage to the fetus, or even death.

• Adjustments of the Infant at Birth

  • Post birth, an infant's physiology must adapt to breathing independently, changes in blood flow and energy access, and a cold environment.
  • As the newborn is expelled from the birth canal, its central nervous system reacts to the sudden change in temperature and environment.
  • Potential neonatal respiratory problems include apnea, transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTNB), respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS), airway obstruction, and pneumonia.
  • The newborn's capacity to maintain these mechanisms is limited, especially in premature infants.
  • Infants, especially preterm infants, have trouble regulating their body temperature.

• Premature Infants

  • Preterm birth is among the top causes of death in infants worldwide.
  • Preterm-premature babies ("preemies") have an increased risk of death in the first year of life (infant mortality), with most of that occurring in the first month of life (neonatal mortality).
  • Mild brain bleeds usually leave no or few lasting complications, but severe bleeds often result in brain damage or even death.
  • Respiratory problems are common, specifically the respiratory distress syndrome (RDS or IRDS), which was previously called hyaline membrane disease.
  • Describe the risk factors associated with and causes of premature infants

• Myocarditis and Endocarditis

  • It can cause a mild disease without any symptoms that resolves itself, or it may cause chest pain, heart failure, or sudden death.
  • An acute myocardial infarction-like syndrome with normal coronary arteries has a good prognosis.
  • Loss of right ventricular function is a strong predictor of death.
  • Symptoms in infants and toddlers tend to be more nonspecific, with generalized malaise, poor appetite, abdominal pain, and/or chronic cough.

• Adrenal Gland Disorders

  • An adrenal crisis often occurs if the body is subjected to stress, such as an accident, injury, surgery, or severe infection, and death may quickly follow.
  • An example of second adrenal insufficiency syndrome can be caused by craniopharyngioma which is a benign tumor that can damage the pituitary gland causing the adrenal glands not to function.
  • Causes of acute adrenal insufficiency are mainly Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome, sudden withdrawal of long-term corticosteroid therapy and stress in patients with underlying chronic adrenal insufficiency.
  • Autoimmune adrenalitis may be part of Type 2 autoimmune polyglandular syndrome, (which can include type 1 diabetes), hyperthyroidism, autoimmune thyroid disease (also known as autoimmune thyroiditis and Hashimoto's disease).
  • Hypogonadism and pernicious anemia may also present with this syndrome.

• Arrhythmia

  • SADS, or sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, is a term (as part of sudden unexpected death syndrome) used to describe sudden death due to cardiac arrest brought on by an arrhythmia in the absence of any structural heart disease on autopsy.
  • If left untreated, ventricular fibrillation (VF, or V-fib) can lead to death within minutes.

• Effects of Exercise on the Heart

  • Higher levels of fat can cause metabolic syndrome, in which causes chronic inflammation in the blood vessels, which increases the risk of atherosclerosis and hypertension.
  • Stress causes sympathetic nervous system activation that increases heart rate and increases blood sugar, as well as the risk for diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
  • For example, some athletes may be at risk for cardiac hypertrophy from too much exercise over long periods of time, and sudden cardiac death from exercising to the point that the heart's metabolic demands become too high, causing an arrythmia.

• Ecosystem Dynamics

  • When laboratory tests failed to identify the disease causing the deaths, New Mexico state health officials notified the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the United States government agency responsible for managing potential epidemics.
  • Virologists at the CDC linked the pulmonary syndrome with a virus - a previously unknown type of hantavirus.
  • With the sudden increase in food supply, the local deer mice population exploded and reproduced so rapidly that there were ten times more mice in May 1993 than there had been in May of 1992.
  • After a series of sudden deaths in 1993, scientists in the Four Corners area of the Southwestern United States rushed to determine the cause.
  • They isolated a previously unknown hantavirus that caused pulmonary failure or Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS).