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Record number of U.S. babies died of 'unknown causes'
Submitted by SHNS on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 14:52.
A record number of babies in the United States officially died of "unknown causes" according to the latest federal statistics, evidence of growing medical uncertainty about sudden infant death.
At the same time, reported cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome held steady at historically low levels.
The latest numbers, which cover 2005, were released this month by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and underscore the medical chaos surrounding how coroners and medical examiners investigate and diagnose the deaths of America's babies.
Federal health officials reported that 1,390 infants died of "ill-defined and unknown causes of mortality" in 2005, an 18 percent increase over the previous year and the largest annual number on record since the early 1970s when SIDS became a commonly recognized diagnosis for infant deaths.
"That's just the trend that we are seeing these days. People are not comfortable calling these deaths anything too specific," said Theresa Covington, director of the National Center for Child Death Review Policy in Michigan. "They want to wait and see where this whole issue is going."
The trend is worrisome to many infant-safety advocates and researchers trying to unravel what circumstances and biological traits are common among babies who die from no obvious medical cause. For parents, uncertainty about the cause of death worsens already grievous emotional wounds.
"We need to give our parents every opportunity to keep their children healthy and that means knowing more about sudden infant deaths," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who is leading congressional inquiries into the problem. "With more research, we can help parents prevent some of these deaths into the future."
Key members of Congress are considering measures to promote detailed standards of investigation for infant deaths. Also under consideration is increased funding for forensic training of coroners' staff and new incentives to expand local and statewide review teams for child deaths.
"A growing number of coroners are afraid to write down 'SIDS' or any other cause that they suspect in a death, unfortunately," said Melissa Clements, whose 5-month-old daughter, Chassidy, was declared the victim of "undetermined" causes in 2001. "We are getting false information that is downplaying the number of SIDS deaths, and that could end up cutting funding for important research."
Some coroners believe their colleagues already know the truth -- that a large number of babies actually die by accidental asphyxiation because parents sleep with them or they are placed in unsafe bedding.
"Many people in my field are unwilling to stick their necks out and tell parents, tell everyone, that the deaths of hundreds and thousands of babies are, in fact, preventable," said Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic, medical examiner for Oakland County, Mich.
A study of 20,000 infant deaths by Scripps Howard News Service last year found that Dragovic declared that nearly 90 percent of all unexpected infant deaths in his area were accidental asphyxiations, the highest percentage in the nation.
Deborah Robinson, a specialist with the SIDS Foundation of Washington state, lost her own baby son to what were first thought to be unknown causes, but later determined to be SIDS. She said forensic pathologists are reluctant to state a specific cause of death even when "clear physical evidence is evident" in a case.
"They are taking the stance that they can always amend an 'undetermined' much easier than if they certified it as SIDS or accidental suffocation," Robinson said.
Robinson also said many investigators are failing to follow investigation standards set by the CDC and the World Health Organization.
"In too many places, investigators still aren't giving the scene of an infant death the same level of scrutiny they routinely give to a fatal traffic accident," she said.
Although death by unknown causes has more than doubled since 1992, reported cases of SIDS declined substantially after federal health authorities urged parents to put infants to bed on their backs rather than on their stomachs.
Cases of sudden death syndrome have held steady at about 2,200 annually since 2001. There were 2,232 such deaths in 2005.
"The number of total sudden infant deaths has stabilized since about 1999. The Back to Sleep campaign has reached almost all of the people that it's going to reach," said former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services researcher Mary Overpeck, one of the nation's experts in SIDS research.
The latest figures from the CDC repeat well-documented patterns in sudden infant deaths:
-- Nearly 60 percent of the victims were male.
-- White babies accounted for 50 percent of the deaths, while black infants were 29 percent and Hispanic babies 15 percent. Asian and American Indian children accounted for about 2 percent each. The race of about 2 percent of the infants was not reported to federal authorities.
-- Infants in their first and second months accounted for nearly half of the victims while unexpected deaths became rare for babies older than 8 months.
The total number of sudden infant deaths in 2005 rose to 4,857 cases, nearly a 10 percent increase over the 4,450 deaths reported the year before and 4,315 in 2003. But the rate at which these deaths are attributed to specific causes like homicide or accidental suffocation because of unsafe sleeping conditions actually declined slightly in 2005.
(Contact the reporters at hargrovet(at)shns.com and bowmanl(at)shns.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Back to Sleep Campaign caused the Autism Epidemic
"Why should she be a beautiful, healthy-looking girl and be dead two days later?"
Dr. John Kattwinkel on the death of his 3 day old baby daughter in 1966
"The Academy was looking for someone who didn't have an agenda. So they chose me."
Dr. John Kattwinkel on being chosen to head the 1992 American Academy on Pediatrics Task Force on SIDS Prevention
“There are indications of a rapidly growing population of infants who show developmental abnormalities as a result of prolonged exposure to the supine position.”
Dr. Ralph Pelligra regarding the impact of the Back to Sleep Campaign
“There is always a well-known solution to every human problem–neat, plausible, and wrong.”
H.L. Mencken
As it turns out, when the primarily back and side sleeping ALSPAC babies were compared to the primarily stomach sleeping Colorado babies used to develop the DDST the researchers obtained these results: 68% of the ALSPAC infants had abnormal scores at 6 months of age compared to the stomach sleeping DDST Colorado infants and 57% of the ALSPAC infants had abnormal scores at 18 months compared to the original stomach sleeping DDST Colorado infants.
Summary of Alan Emond letter to BMJ in 2005 regarding ALSPAC data and a research project unrelated to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
“Since the implementation of the "Back to Sleep" campaign, therapists are seeing increasing numbers of kindergarten-aged children who are unable to hold a pencil.”
Susan Syron, Pediatric Physical Therapist
“Infants with deformational plagiocephaly were found to have significantly different psychomotor development indexes and mental developmental indexes when compared with the standardized population.”
Kordestani, et al. in their study “Neurodevelopmental Delays in Children with Deformational Plagiocephaly”
“I do not think it is a medical problem - it is more of a cosmetic one. Mothers may feel it is a syndrome and a problem when it really is nonsense.”
Dr. Peter Fleming, back sleep advocate, on his view of deformational plagiocephaly
“The one we tend to think of has been the rapid increase in the incidence of positional plagiocephaly and positional brachycephaly. However, there have been whispers and rumors of other effects”
Phil Stevens, MEd, CPO regarding side effects of the Back to Sleep Campaign.
“The potential implications of a SIDS risk-reduction strategy that is based on a combination of maintaining a low arousal threshold and reducing quiet (equivalent to or slow-wave sleep) in infants must be considered. Because slow-wave sleep is considered the most restorative form of sleep and is believed to have a significant role in neurocognitive processes and learning, as well as in growth, what might be the neurodevelopmental consequences of chronically reducing deep sleep in the first critical 12 months of life”?
Pelayo, et al. letter to the editor regarding 2006 SIDS Task Force Recommendations
“Back to Sleep campaigns have been in place in many countries since the early 1990s, and there has been no indication that supine sleep has lasting negative effects on infant growth and development”
Dr. John Kattwinkel, in reply to the Pelayo, et al. letter to SIDS Task Force
"Federal records show a dramatic decline in reported cases of SIDS, dropping from 4,895 cases in 1992 to only 2,247 in 2004, the most recent year for which complete data is available. The records reviewed by Scripps showed that cases of SIDS virtually disappeared in some states and cities over the last several years, but closer examination of the data makes it evident that thousands of those lives have not been ‘saved,’ but rather lost under another name. Coroners and medical examiners said SIDS was responsible for nearly 80 percent of all sudden infant deaths 15 years ago and only 55 percent in 2004. What increased during this time were diagnoses that CDC statisticians labeled as "threats to breathing" and ‘other ill-defined causes of mortality.’"
Bowman and Hargrove, Scripps Howard News Service
Unknown Deaths
My name is Lindsey and my Nephew, Dylan, recently died two months ago and on his death certificate it is stated "Unknown." Well, Dylan, who was 4 months old, was placed by his baby-sitter on an egg-crate bed face-down with a propped up bottle. I don't know any four month old baby who can lay face down and drink out of a bottle that is propped up. Come to find out after his death the baby-sitter wasn't even licensed by DCF and that this is the third death in her home. The other two babies were placed face down on a water bed. There was also an abuse case against her but the mother of the child didn't want to press charges becasue she was friends with the baby-sitter. Now the way I see it, One death is accidential, Two deaths is a coincidence, But Three deaths is Suspicious. Now do you think I am crazy for wondering if this is suspicious? I am only 19 years old and I may not know to much about children, but I know enough that babies shouldn't be placed face down for various reasons. Please write back. Thank-you!
You should report that
Lindsey, you should definitely report that to the authorities. 3 deaths in one, small unlicensed day care would seem to be statistically significant and should at the very least be investigated by the police. If she's truly negligent then she should be held accountable but if she's really just ignorant then she needs to be educated and this will help her. Either way she should be reported to the authorities just to be certain that no other infants are put in danger.
Although I disagree with the "Back to Sleep" campaign I think everyone agrees that an infant should never be put on a water bed. That's a higly dangerous place for infants. Also, an infant should never be put to sleep on a milk crate bed.
I'm very sorry to hear about your nephew Dylan. I'll say a prayer for him. If you have any doubts about what to do I would suggest reading 3 books that may be helpful:
(1) "Codependent No More" by Melody Beattie
(2) "Bradshaw On: The Family" by John Bradshaw
(3) Anything by Stephen Covey who has writings that are both practical but also incredibly insightful. Essentially Covey would suggest in this situation to do whatever you think is the principled thing to do.
Melody Beattie had a 12 year old son who died in a skiing accident and has very helpful writings on grief.
Having lost an older nephew myself to a sudden accident I can sympathize on some level but also know that the death of an infant is one of the most painfully grieving tragedies. For his short time on this earth he was very lucky to have such a kind and caring aunt. Best regards.
Tom
Facebook Wall Spam - WTF??
I'm very sorry to hear about your nephew Dylan. I'll say a prayer for him. If you have any doubts about what to do I would suggest reading 3 books that may be helpful:
(1) "Codependent No More" by Melody Beattie
(2) "Bradshaw On: The Family" by John Bradshaw
(3) Anything by Stephen Covey who has writings that are both practical but also incredibly insightful. Essentially Covey would suggest in this situation to do whatever you think is the principled thing to do. oto kiralama kiralık oto araba kiralama minibüs kiralama araç kiralama
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