Researchers find cause of sudden infant death syndrome

THE ANGELS – scientists have published a new study that may offer groundbreaking insight into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), a fact that has previously baffled the medical community.

SIDS is the unexplained death of an apparently healthy baby under a year old, usually during sleep, according to the Mayo Clinic. The CDC reports that SIDS accounted for 37% of childhood deaths in the United States in 2019.

Now researchers at Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, Australia, have been able to confirm the cause of SIDS, which usually occurs when babies die suddenly in their sleep.

The medical community had previously believed that SIDS was caused by a complication in the part of the baby’s brain that controls the regulation of breathing while sleeping.

In the latest study, researchers found that babies who died of SIDS had lower levels of an enzyme known as butyrylcholinesterase (BChE).

Scientists believe that this enzyme helps regulate the pathways in the brain that drive a person’s breathing, confirming the scientists’ original hypothesis.

“We conclude that a previously unidentified cholinergic deficit, identifiable by abnormal -BChEsa, is present at birth in infants with SIDS and represents a specific vulnerability measurable before death,” the researchers stated.

Dr. Carmel Harrington, an honorary researcher who led the study, said her findings were a game changer. Harrington said the study provided an explanation for SIDS and the hope of preventing deaths associated with this mysterious condition.

“An apparently healthy baby who falls asleep and doesn’t wake up is every parent’s nightmare and until now there was no way of knowing which baby would succumb. But that is no longer the case. We have found the first marker indicating vulnerability before death”. Harrington said in a press release.

The researchers explained that BChE plays a vital role in the brain’s arousal pathway. They further explained that a deficiency in BChE likely suggests an arousal deficit in infants, which would reduce their ability to wake up or respond to the external environment, making them susceptible to SIDS.

“Babies have a very powerful mechanism for letting us know when they’re not happy. Usually, if a baby is faced with a life-threatening situation, like having trouble breathing while sleeping because they’re on their tummy, they’ll wake up and cry.” What this research shows is that some babies don’t have this same robust arousal response,” Harrington said.

Dr. Matthew Harris, an emergency medicine pediatrician at Cohen/Northwell Health Children’s Medical Center in Long Island, N.Y., was not involved in the study but said foxnews“The study findings are interesting and important. While the sample size is limited, the study does suggest that lower levels of this enzyme are associated with an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Importantly, this could present an opportunity for both early detection of risk factors during the perinatal period, as well as offer scientists and clinicians the opportunity to discover an intervention.”

How parents can avoid SIDS, according to pediatricians:

• Place your baby on his back for all sleep times.
• Avoid leaving loose blankets that can suffocate the child.
• Keep babies in the bedroom of parents or guardians for at least six months, but not in adult beds.

FOX News contributed to this story.