Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a condition characterized by the unexpected and unexplained death of an otherwise healthy infant aged between a month and a year. To be classified as SIDS, the death cannot be attributed to any other known cause after performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and clinical history of the infant's family (1). Typically, the infant is found dead in the early morning after a sleep period and despite declines in the syndrome rates after risk reduction campaigns, SIDS remains the leading cause of postneonatal mortality in the United States with an incidence of 0.6/1000 live births.

The triple-risk model for the pathogenesis of SIDS proposed by Kinney and coworkers (2) proposes that sudden death results when three risk factors occur simultaneously: 1) an underlying vulnerability; 2) a critical period for homeostatic control; and 3) an exogenous stressor. The underlying vulnerability remains latent until the infant enters a critical developmental period (the first 6 mo of life when 90% of SIDS deaths occur) and is exposed to an exogenous stressor. Epidemiologic risk factors of importance for SIDS include maternal smoking, socioeconomic disadvantage, prematurity, maternal obstetric history, infant sleeping practices, and sleep environment (3).

Log in or create a free account to read this content

Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com

Access through your institution

or

Sign in or create an account
Continue with Google
Continue with ORCiD