The cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) continues to elude researchers. Doctors in Denmark recently examined the possible connection between febrile seizures and SIDS. Both are age-related, occurring in younger children and infants, and may have a common mechanism - lack of blood flow to the brain.
One interesting finding that supports a possible relationship between febrile seizures and SIDS is how cats react to artificially induced fevers. Young kittens tend to die suddenly, older kittens are more likely to have a seizure, and mature cats have neither.
The doctors looked at the medical records of nearly 10,000 children ages three to sixty months old who had a febrile seizure. None of these children had a history on non-febrile seizures, cerebral palsy, severe head trauma, intracranial tumors, meningitis, or encephalitis.
These children were compared to over 20,000 siblings who never had a febrile seizure, looking at the rate of SIDS in both groups. (SIDS is know to be more likely among siblings.) They found no increase in the risk of SIDS due to febrile seizures.
Although this study didn't find a cause or SIDS, it did help by eliminating one possible cause.
Archives of Diseases of Childhood, 2/02.
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