SIDS and subsequent pregnancies 

21 September 2006

Professor Gordon Smith et al at Cambridge University have investigated the relationship between SIDS and complications in previous and subsequent pregnancies in 258,096 women who had consecutive births in Scotland between 1985 and 2002.

Mothers who had a baby die because of SIDS were more likely to give birth to low birth weight or premature infants in later pregnancies, and women with a previous history of giving birth to such infants were more likely than others to lose an infant to SIDS.

This is consistent with previous FSID-supported publications from the same group, suggesting that stillbirth, complications in pregnancy and SIDS may all result in part from common risk factors.


This research has been published in: Smith G, Sudden infant death syndrome and complications in other pregnancies, Lancet 2005; 366: 2107-11; 2005.