Leeds inquiry into infant deaths: The importance of abuse and neglect in sudden infant death

Reviewing child deaths?learning from the American experience

“…Equally, retrospective analysis of 37 unexpected infant deaths in Leeds (Hobbs et al, 1995) by health and social services professionals also highlighted how gathering information from a range of sources can make a valuable contribution towards elucidating the cause of death. Prior to the retrospective review, all of these 37 cases had received a post-mortem with the resulting cause of death being listed as sudden infant death syndrome alone (28), sudden infant death plus major infection (4), bacterial meningitis (2), heart disease (2) and drowning (1).…”

Child Abuse and Sudden Infant Death

“…Studies have shown clear differences in SIDS rates based on occupational social class and ethnicity (Leon, Vagero and Olausson, 1992 (Hobbs, Wynne and Gelletlie, 1995).…”

“…The findings of confidential inquiries on all infant deaths (Hobbs et al, 1995;Emery and Taylor, 1986). Case reports where homicide is diagnosed after a man or woman has had several unexpected baby deaths diagnosed as SIDS (Wallace, 1986).…”

“…Paediatric pathologists, paediatricians, those with responsibility for investigating the circumstances of the death and those with first-hand knowledge of the family need to combine efforts in attempting to understand these deaths more fully. A jigsaw picture may be created as indicated in an earlier paper (Hobbs et al, 1995). With the recent and welcome reduction in SIDS in this country, it is likely that a greater proportion of the remaining deaths have arisen as a result of abuse (Meadow, 1995).…”

“…4.7% (Perrot and Nawojczyk, 1988). Findings from the Leeds confidential enquiry into infant deaths concluded that detailed inquiry into 37 unexpected deaths revealed issues of abuse or neglect in 27, in 10 of which it was the major concern (Hobbs et al, 1995).…”