A new study may have the answer to the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
For years, SIDS, the unexpected death of an otherwise healthy infant, has been a mystery. But now, a new study may be able to provide some explanation. In the June issue of the Lancet’s eBioMedicine journal, results from a recent study show that a lower level of blood enzyme could be what causes SIDS.
“These families can now live with the knowledge that this was not their fault,” said Dr. Carmel Harrington, lead researcher at Children’s Hospital at Westmead in New South Wales, Australia. Harrington became passionate about finding the cause of SIDS after going through the experience herself.
“Nobody could tell me [why],” said Harrington, The New Post reports. “They just said it’s a tragedy. But it was a tragedy that didn’t sit well with my scientific brain.”
The news outlet reports that for years, physicians have believed that the issue has stemmed from a problem in the brain that manages sleep and breathing. But now, evidence shows there may be a connection to SIDS in newborns’ blood. Researchers have found that babies who died from SIDS had lower levels of an enzyme called butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). A lack of BChE could cause a child to be more susceptible to dying from SIDS because of an inability to wake up on their own.
“Usually, if a baby is confronted with a life-threatening situation, such as difficulty breathing during sleep because they’re on their tummies, they will arouse and cry out,” Harrington explained. “What this research shows is that some babies don’t have this same robust arousal response.”
