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Existing newborn screenings may be able to identify risk of sudden infant death syndrome, study finds

NBC News
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Sudden infant death syndrome is the leading cause of death among babies from 1 month to 1 year old in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed nearly 1,400 infant deaths in 2020 to SIDS.

Currently, there’s no way to tell whether a baby might develop SIDS, but a new study has found that a particular group of chemicals called metabolites could identify babies with an elevated risk.

The findings are based on data from California from 2005 to 2011 .

Recent research on SIDS has pointed to other risk factors, including serotonin, which helps regulate heart rate and breathing.

Experts said it’s too soon to say whether the metabolic differences detected in the new study are related to neurological differences identified in previous research.

“Your autonomic nervous system obviously has an impact and plays a role in your metabolism,” Napolitano said.