Gastric aspiration in SIDS

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SIDS cannot be reliably assigned as the cause of death without a complete assessment of the circumstances of the death and a thorough autopsy. A major initial concern about the very successful “Back to Sleep” campaign in the United States was that infants would aspirate if placed on their backs, despite epidemiological data to the contrary from elsewhere in the world. The fear of aspiration persists, and an autopsy finding of aspiration is routinely discounted as a post-mortem finding, particularly if resuscitation was attempted. Krous et al now report that some infants who died of SIDS and who did not receive resuscitative attempts had findings suggesting that aspiration may have contributed to the death. However, supine sleeping position did not increase the identification of aspiration. “Back to Sleep” is the best defense to SIDS and does not increase the risk of aspiration.

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