On the Question of the Diagnosis of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Abstract

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is one of the leading causes of postneonatal mortality of infants in most developed countries. This paper presents data on terminology and on the study of SIDS in developed countries, and also examines problems of SIDS diagnostic inRussia in comparison with the results of own researches, analyzes risk factors, which are universal as for SIDS, and also for perinatal and infant death in general. The large variability of SIDS diagnosis in Russia suggests that this diagnosis often does not comply with international standard: post-mortem examination of community-acquired sudden death cases is often carried out by a forensic expert, but not by a children's pathologist, and they do not use virological and microbiological methods of investigation. In some cases, there is no infant's record or case record from children's polyclinic.

Keywords

• sudden infant death syndrome
• terminology
• diagnosis
• perinatal risk factors