Clue found to cot deaths?

Press, 27 June 1987, Page 12

Clue found to cot deaths?

NZPA-Reuter Boston A special form of haemoglobin, the chemical that absorbs oxygen in the blood, appears to linger in newborns who are destined to die from sudden infant death syndrome (5.1.D.5.), researchers have reported. A team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine said they were not sure what the discovery meant or whether the lingering haemoglobin contributed to S.I.D.S. But they said their findings might help doctors

predict if a newborn baby is at risk of S.I.D.S. and help medical examiners determine if S.I.D.S. caused the death of an infant. After birth, the special form of haemoglobin, haemoglobin F, begins to disappear from the blood, replaced by, the adult forrh of the chemical, haemoglobin A. The researchers found that 37 infants who died of S.I.D.S. tended to have levels of haemoglobin F that were 2.5 times higher than other babies their age.

“Our interpretation of this finding is that infants with S.I.D.S. are characterized by a marked delay in the switch from haemo- • globin F to haemoglobin A '■■ • — a phenomenon that may reflect an underlying chronic condition,'’ the researchers corifcluded. The study was published in the “New England Journal of Medicine.” In the past, high levels of haemoglobin F have been linked to heart failure, anaerriia, prematurity, and a host of other problems 1 in infants.