Abstract 3
Brain stem gliosis which is found elevated in some SIDS victims in areas connected to autonomic dysfunction, has been associated with hypoxic-ischemic events. Factors increasing the risk of dying from SIDS are, among others, hypoxic-ischemic events during fetal life, including smoking during pregnancy, as well as postnatal autonomic dysfunction. We therefore wanted to investigate if possible hypoxic-ischemic events during pregnancy, birth, and in infancy are associated with brain stem gliosis, and of cigarette smoking during pregnancy or clinical signs of autonomic dysfunction are associated with brain stem gliosis in the SIDS victims. We went through the mothers antenatal care records, obstetric records, and the SIDS infants hospital journals. One point was given for any possible hypoxic-ischemic event. All points were summarised for each infant, and this sum was correlated with the infants' level of gliosis. We also correlated the number of cigarettes the mothers smoked during pregnancy and their infants' level of gliosis. Moreover, postnatal signs of autonomic dysfunction were correlated with the infants level of gliosis. We found that in SIDS victims there is 41% probability that the more the mothers smoked during pregnancy, the greater the risk of brain stem gliosis in their infants (p<0.01). Moreover, brain stem gliosis correlated with possible hypoxic-ischemic events during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period (r2=0.26, p<0.05), but if cigarette smoking was excluded as hypoxic factor, no association was found. Moreover, no signs of autonomic dysfunction was noticed in the infants' hospital records.
