IT SOUNDS like bad news: cot deaths in the UK have risen for the first time since 1996, when they peaked at just over 0.6 deaths per 1000 live births. Last year, that rate edged up from 0.29 to 0.30.
But while sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is always tragic, the reason for the recorded rise is more thorough investigation into the causes of babies鈥� deaths, say researchers from the UK government鈥檚 national statistics office, who published the data on 25 August. A major report into cot deaths published last September by the UK Royal College of Pathologists and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health encouraged coroners to do just that, and they are now more likely to record SIDS rather than 鈥渦nascertained鈥� as cause of death.
Confidence in stating SIDS as a cause of death waned in the UK in the late 1990s after a series of women, whose young children had unexpectedly died, were charged with injuring or murdering them (New 杏吧原创, 30 July, page 6). But the high-profile acquittals of many of these women years later has lifted the suspicion that many other infant deaths were not caused by SIDS. Correspondingly, coroners are also recording 42 per cent fewer 鈥渦nascertained鈥� deaths of young children, the first fall since 1996.
Advertisement
鈥淐oroners are now more likely to record cot death rather than 鈥榰nascertained鈥欌��
The overall number of unexplained deaths (a combination of SIDS and unascertained deaths) continues to fall, dropping by 15 per cent between 2003 and 2004.
