Researchers from the Boston Children's Hospiral investigated the sudden deaths of infants, whether they were in a safe or unsafe environments, were caused by abnormalities in the brainstem.
According to their studies, infants who suddenly die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, have some alterations and differences in their brainstem compared to infants who die of a different cause like an illness or accident. Hannah Kinney, lead researcher and a neuropathologist at Boston Children's Hospital, said that the abnormality can actually alter the brain part responsible in controlling breathing, pulse rate, blood pressure and temperature.
Infants who have this condition will die in his or her sleep. Failure to awaken the child will lead to death because there will be too much carbon dioxide in the body. Also, it may be due to failure of the thermoregulation control of the body.
However, epidemiologic data suggests that the cause of the sudden deaths of infants was due to unsafe sleeping environments and positions such as being in a prone position, sleeping in the sofa, sleeping with another person or sleeping with many pillows. On the other hand, the new study used the autopsy data of 71 infants who suddenly diedfrom 1997 to 2008. They also referred to the brainstem samples analysis.
They grouped the infants into two, one in the group "safe or asphyxia unlikely" and the other one "unsafe asphyxia likely". After grouping all infants, they ended up with 15 infants who died without any cause even if they were in a safe environment. They discovered that even infants who were in an unsafe environment had the same brain chemical abnormalities like those who died in a safe environment.
The concluded that of course, infants may die if they are in an unsafe environment. However, they want to clear that SIDS has a deeper underlying cause that people should know of. This is to make parents understand that even in a safe or unsafe environment, infants with brainstem abnormalities will have problems during sleep.