Sudden infant death syndrome: Doctors uncover potential cause in breakthrough study

After spending years studying the cause of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, doctors believe they have identified a cause, according to a new study published in the journal Neurology.

Brief seizures accompanied by muscle convulsions have been named as a possible reason for the mysterious and tragic deaths — a tragic loss suffered by thousands of families in the United States each year.

“Our study, although small, offers the first direct evidence that seizures may be responsible for some sudden deaths in children, which are usually unwitnessed during sleep,” lead researcher, NYU Langone’s Dr. Laura Gould, said in a statement.

SIDS, sometimes referred to as “crib death,” typically strikes infants younger than 6 months of age. The deaths usually occur during sleep. In older children, the inexplicable event is defined as a sudden unexplained death in children, or SUDC.

Gould helped to establish the SUDC Registry and Research Collaborative at NYU Langone after losing her 15-month-old daughter Maria to SUDC in 1997.

Her team of researchers at New York University studied more than 300 SUDC cases in the registry, examining medical records and even video recordings of the babies sleeping, along with seven cases where death was considered likely to have been caused by seizures.

The footage showed that the convulsions were found to have lasted for less than 60 seconds — and that the unfortunate events took place within 30 minutes of the child’s death.

“Convulsive seizures may be the smoking gun that medical science has been looking for to understand why these children die,” study senior investigator and neurologist Dr. Orrin Devinsky, who helped Gould establish the registry, said in a statement.

“Studying this phenomenon may also provide critical insight into many other deaths, including those from SIDS and epilepsy.”

Scientists have previously noted a connection between SUDC and seizures, finding that those who experienced febrile seizures (seizures accompanied by fever) were 10 times more likely to die suddenly and unexpectedly.

The team at NYU noted that they don’t have data to show if fevers triggered the deaths they studied, but did find that several of the children had signs of mild infections.

“If we can figure out the children at risk, maybe we can change their outcome,” Gould told NBC News.

However, the experts note that further research is needed to understand exactly how seizures can lead to death.

This breakthrough comes after another team of researchers announced that low levels of a blood enzyme, called butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), may be a potential cause of SIDS. The enzyme plays an important role in waking up.

“These families can now live with the knowledge that this was not their fault,” said lead researcher Dr. Carmel Harrington, of the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in New South Wales, Australia, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Association about the BChE research.

Previously, physicians told parents to lay a baby on their back to sleep — and to clear the crib of excess toys or covers that might cause their delicate bodies to overheat or prompt accidental strangulation or suffocation. But still, they couldn’t guarantee the newborn’s safety.