The interest in paediatric sleep disorders over the last few decades has had its focus on the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS): healthy infants who go to sleep and never wake up again. Overall, this is by far the most dramatic form of paediatric sleep disordered breathing.

SIDS is defined as the sudden death of an infant that is unexpected by history and unexplained by a thorough postmortem examination, which includes a complete autopsy, investigation of the scene of death, and review of the medical history.

An autopsy is essential to identify natural causes of sudden, unexpected death such as congenital anomalies or infection and to diagnose traumatic child abuse.

Although autopsy reveals no pathognomonic findings suggestive or required for the diagnosis, but some common findings are often found. SIDS is the third leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, accounting for 8 per cent of all infant deaths.

Despite the decline in SIDS rates by more than 50 per cent in Canada, the US and many other countries, it continues to be the leading cause of infant death, Currently it accounts for about 25 per cent of all deaths of babies between 1 month and 1 year of age in the West.

The decline in rate is attributed largely to educational campaigns.

The reduction in risk appears to be related primarily to the decrease in placing infants prone (face and tummy on the bed) for sleep and the increase in placing them supine (face upwards).

A number of other risk factors also have significant associations with SIDS — like maternal smoking and alcohol use, intrauterine hypoxia, maternal nutritional deficiency, thermal stress, colder season etc. There are no authentic data on the incidence of SIDS in Indian infants.

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