Causes Of Sids example essay topic

SIDS Many of the questions about what causes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) also known as "crib death", or to prevent it are still unresolved. The mysterious and elusive nature of SIDS creates problems, doubts, and more questions. This paper will present some of the most commonly asked questions as well as the answers that have been uncovered by scientists after years of research and study. In 1969, researchers agreed to define SIDS as "the sudden death of an infant or young child, which is unexpected by history, and in which a thorough postmortem examination fails to demonstrate an adequate cause of death" (Bergman, 1970).

What Causes SIDS? The cause or causes of SIDS are still unknown. Most researchers now believe that babies who die of SIDS are born with one or more conditions that make them vulnerable to both internal and external stresses that occur in the normal life of an infant. Most deaths from SIDS occur by the end of the sixth month with the greatest number taking place between two and four months of age.

A SIDS death occurs quickly and is often associated with sleep, with no signs of suffering. More deaths are reported in the winter months and most victims are boys, with a sixty-to-forty percent male-to-female ratio. Cowan 3 How Many Babies Die from SIDS? From year to year, the number of SIDS deaths tends to remain constant despite fluctuations in the overall number of infant deaths.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reported that in, 1988 in the United States, 5,476 infants under the age of one died from SIDS, in 1989, the number of SIDS deaths was 5,634 (NCHS, 1990, 92). Some people say the number is closer to 7,000 (Goyco and Beckerman, 1990). When putting it all together the number of lives births each year, SIDS remains the leading cause of death in the United States among infants between one month and one year of age and second only to congenital anomalies as the leading overall cause of death for all infants less than one year of age. How Do Professionals Diagnose SIDS? Back before people known about this disease, people often thought they killed the baby.

But, now we have autopsy to determine the cause of death. Often the cause of an infant death can be determined only through a process of collecting information, conducting sometimes complex tests, and talking with parents and physicians. How Smoking Affects SIDS? First of all, cigarettes are bad for a regular person. Cigarette smoking by the mother during pregnancy has been consistently shown in studies as a risk factor for SIDS.

A study measuring the level of tobacco smoke exposure in SIDS victims to a control group of infants that had died of other causes. Relying on the Cowan 4 continue concentration taken from the pericardial fluid, researchers found that the SIDS victims were more likely to have high the concentrations of cotinine in the fluid than the control infants. Cotinine is produced as the liver cleanses the nicotine from the blood and metabolizes it. Steps are being took to inform people about the risks of SIDS in pregnant smoking women. Reducing the Chances of SIDS?

Here are some helpful ways to reduce SIDS. 1. Sleeping Position- One of the most important interventions to reduce the risk of SIDS is to place your newborn infant on their back to sleep. 2.

Bedding- A firm mattress or firm surface is the best sleeping environment for your baby. Avoid fluffy comforters of blankets. Do not allow your infant to sleep in a waterbed, sheepskin, or pillow. 3. Smoking- This has already been stated. But, second hand smoke increases not only your baby's chance of developing a respiratory infection, but also increases the risk for SIDS.

4. Temperature- Do not overheat your baby. 5. Breast Feeding- If possible, breast feed your baby as breast milk helps maintain your infant's health. Personal Views think having a baby is a gift from God. So, people should do every and anything to ensure the health of this new life.

SIDS remains an unpredictable, unpreventable, and unexplainable tragedy. SIDS demands that we unravel its Cowan 5 mystery, find its cause or causes, and learn how to prevent it from happening. I have faith we will find the cause of this disease.

Bibliography

1. Bergman, A.B., Beckwith, J.B., and Ray, C.G. (Eds. ). SIDS: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Causes of SIDS. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1970.
2. Goyco, P.G., and Beckerman, R.C. "SIDS". Current Problems in Pediatrics 20 (6): 299-346, June 1990.
3. Miler ad J. Veg e A., Opal S. Regnum T. Objective Measurements of Nicotine Exposure in Victims of SIDS and in other unexpected child deaths. Journal of Pediatrics. 1998;
133: 232-36.4. Corr, C.A., Fuller, H., Barnickol, C.A., and Corr, D.M. (Eds.) SIDS: Who Can Help and How. New York: Publishing Co., 1991.