THE EVIDENCE ON SIDS

Key words: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Preventive programmes, Child health, Q-T prolongation, Screening

Although current data may be not accurate due to absence of a national register, SIDS is the the main cause of death in infants after the first month in Italy, with an estimated incidence around 0.5 per thousand live births.The Authors summarise the available evidence on the main risk factors (prone position during sleep, environmental tobacco smoke, bed sharing, inappropriate use of blankets and Q-T prolongation) and propose a multifactorial causal model that include genetic environmental and behavioural factors. Those factors are emphasised that appear to be modifiable by preventive interventions. Among these, the back to sleep educational campaign was shown to be effective in reducing SIDS by over 40% in the USA, and should be the key component of a multifactorial preventive.