Got Deaths in Birmingham 1958–61

Epidemiology of sudden unexpected death in infants ('cot death') in Northern Ireland.

“…These figures accord with most North American and European experience, though both lower (Ministry of Health, 1965; Cameron and Asher, 1965;Fitzgibbons et al, 1969;Houstek, 1970) and higher (Canby and Jaffurs, 1963;Stowens, Callahan, and Clay, 1966;Steele, Kraus, and Langworth, 1967;Kerenyi and Fekete, 1969) estimates are reported. No studies have been published from underdeveloped countries.…”

“…SEX Males predominate in only four series. In three of these (Garsche, 1949;Cooke and Welch, 1964;Ministry of Health, 1965) the sexes are about equal, and in the other (Cameron and Asher, 1965) there is a marked female preponderance (M/F = 80/92).…”

“…DAY OF WEEK AND TIME OF DAY Most investigators (Emery, 1959;Peterson, 1966;Valdes-Dapena, 1967), though not all (Cameron and Asher, 1965), have found equal frequencies of SUD by day of the week; and SUD cases, unlike other infant deaths, are commonest during normal household sleeping hours (Hildebrand, 1966;Valdes-Dapena, 1967;Steele et al, 1967;Melton et al, 1968;Fitzgibbons et al, 1969;Bergnan, 1970;Houstek, 1970). In the present study the exact time of death is perforce known only for those 37 index cases (23%) who were allegedly seen to die or were discovered in extremis (a gross overestimate since many of these infants were probably dead when found though the parents would not acknowledge this), and all but seven of these (allegedly) died between 8.00 a.m. and midnight, i.e., when babies are under most frequent surveillance.…”

“…AGE AND BIRTH ORDER Some authors have noted comparatively younger mothers (Peterson, 1966, Valdes-Dapena, 1967von Sydow, 1969) and higher birth orders (Cameron and Asher, 1965;Peterson, 1966;Houstek, 1970) in SUD: of those few with adequate data, only Bergman (1970) found maternal age and parity unremarkable. In the present study these two confounded factors are examined as follows.…”

Obstetric and perinatal histories of children who died unexpectedly (cot death).

“…There have been many surveys into the environmental factors and the epidemiology of children found unexpectedly dead (Banks, 1958;Bergman, 1970;Carpenter and Shaddick, 1965;Cameron and Asher, 1965;Emery, 1959;Valdes-Dapena, 1967;Houstek, 1969). A recent survey by Froggatt and his colleagues (Froggatt, Lynas, and MacKenzie, 1971) in Northern Ireland largely summarizes previous surveys.…”