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Lead and sudden infant death

Investigations on blood samples of SID babies

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Abstract

To investigate a potential relationship between an elevated lead burden and sudden infant death (SID), the lead concentrations (Pb-B) were determined in 41 blood samples from SID babies and compared with the Pb-B of 5 babies who died traumatically and 77 living control babies. Several factors that may influence the Pb-B were taken into consideration, especially a dependence of the Pb-B on age and social class. Moreover, a post-mortem water shift occurs in the blood. Even taking these factors into consideration the distribution of the Pb-B's of the SID group was found to differ on a highly significant level (>99.9%) from the control group. Five Pb-B's of the SID group were higher than the highest lead concentration found in blood from the control babies. Negative influences of lead on the pre-and postnatal maturation of the brain are discussed in the search for a possible causal connection between an elevated lead burden and the occurrence of SID.

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Abbreviations

SID:

sudden infant death

Pb-B:

blood lead concentration

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Rechtsmedizin, Frauenlobstrasse 7a, D-8000, München 2, Germany

    G. A. Drasch, E. Kretschmer & C. Lochner

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  1. G. A. Drasch
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  2. E. Kretschmer
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  3. C. Lochner
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Drasch, G.A., Kretschmer, E. & Lochner, C. Lead and sudden infant death. Eur J Pediatr 147, 79–84 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00442618

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00442618

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