Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) appears to be associated with early atherosclerotic lesions, according to a study presented on Sunday at the Argentine Congress of Cardiology. However, the mechanism of the association is unclear, the researchers said.
Dr. Jose Milei and colleagues, at the University of Buenos Aires Cardiological Research Institute, analyzed autopsy samples of 52 SIDS victims and 16 babies who had died from unrelated causes, such as meningitis or trauma.
In the study, the investigators focused on the infants' epicardial coronary arteries. They found pre-atherosclerotic lesions in 44.2% of the SIDS group, versus 6.3% in the control babies (p=0.0062)
Coronary lesions ranged from intimal thickening to early soft plaques narrowing the lumen by 50%. Most alterations were found in left anterior descending coronary artery and involved mainly proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells.
Some of the lesions might eventually have evolved to adult atherosclerotic plaques, Dr. Milei said, whereas others might have regressed or stabilized.
"You cannot say that atherosclerosis causes SIDS. But perhaps there are common pathogenic factors, such as (passive) smoking and environmental pollution," he told Reuters Health.
In a previous work, Dr. Milei and colleagues had shown that maternal smoking was associated with pre-atherosclerotic intimal lesions in fetal coronary arteries. "Now, the link between SIDS and infant atherosclerosis deserves further research," he added.
Reviewed by Ramaz Mitaishvili, MD
