Sudden death in pediatric populations
Journal
Korean Circulation Journal
Journal Volume
40
Journal Issue
6
Pages
253-257
Date Issued
2010
Author(s)
Abstract
Sudden death (SD) in children is rarer than in adults. In the pediatric population, SD accounts for less than one tenth of deaths from all causes. SD in infants is a separate entity commonly termed "sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)". Previous studies on SD in pediatric patients primarily focused on infants and showed that the incidence of SIDS was much lower in Asian countries than in Western ones. However, these differences diminished after educational campaigns such as the back to sleep act in the late 1980s to early 1990s. The incidence of SIDS from Western reports has decreased from 2.69 to around 0.5-0.24 per 1,000 live births. Beyond infancy, the annual incidence of SD ranges from 1.3 to 7.5 per 100,000. In 2009, two population-based studies, one from Taiwan and the other from the US, explored the epidemiological profile of SD in children. The child health care indexes of these two countries are similar, but the annual incidence of pediatric SD was 7.5 and 2.7 per 100,000 in the USA and Taiwan, respectively. The implications of ethic-related differences requires further confirmation. Around 40% of pediatric SD could be from cardiac causes, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. Risk stratification for cardiac SD and patient selection for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy are recommended. However, the adoption of ICD as primary prevention for SD in children is still a challenging issue. Early detection of undiagnosed cardiac risk may be facilitated by cardiac screening either in newborns or the school-age population to better manage the risk of SD. However, the efficacy of such screening remains still controversial. Copyright ? 2010 The Korean Society of Cardiology.
Subjects
Children; Infant; Sudden death
SDGs
Other Subjects
beta adrenergic receptor blocking agent; cardiomyopathy; child; child health care; congenital heart disease; defibrillator; early diagnosis; education; ethnic difference; heart arrhythmia; heart disease; human; incidence; infancy; patient selection; pediatrics; primary prevention; review; screening; sudden death; sudden infant death syndrome; Taiwan; United States
Type
review