Posted on 09/04/2005 8:30:59 PM PDT by neverdem
STOCKHOLM, Sept 4 (Reuters) - As many as one in 10 cases of sudden infant death syndrome could be avoided by early screening for a heart problem and proper treatment, researchers said on Sunday.
Scientists have long suspected some cases of SIDS, also known as cot death or crib death, may be due to an electrical problem called long Q-T syndrome, in which the heart recharges itself too slowly.
Now a study released at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in Stockholm has shown at least 8.4 percent of SIDS victims carry genetic mutations associated with this and related heart arrhythmias.
Professor Peter Schwartz of the University of Pavia in Italy and colleagues from Oslo University said the actual percentage was probably closer to 10 percent to 12 percent.
Since effective therapies exist for treating long Q-T syndrome, Schwartz said the deaths of many babies could be avoided by electrocardiogram (ECT) screening in the first month of life.
Such a screening programme could also prevent a much larger number of sudden deaths in children and adolescents, since only a fraction of those affected by the condition die in the first year of life.
The research findings were based on an examination of the DNA from 201 victims of SIDS, which researchers compared with that of 182 non-SIDS cases.
Previous research has suggested sleeping on the stomach, nervous system problems related to breathing and abnormal metabolism in the liver could be among other causes of SIDS.
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