Medical researchers develop a fresh theory about what makes infants most at risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Washingtoner/10286644

REDMOND, Wash., March 26, 2025 ~ Seattle, WA- The Eighth Annual SIDS Summit, held in Seattle, brought together some of the leading minds on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) from around the world. Among the attendees were researchers from the Center for Integrative Brain Research at Seattle Children's and data scientists from Microsoft, who presented groundbreaking findings on the genetic factors that contribute to SIDS.

The research, which will be discussed at the summit, sheds new light on SIDS and its potential causes. One of the key findings is a paper published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics that reveals how gene variations related to heart, lung, and brain function can make infants more vulnerable to Sudden Unexplained Infant Deaths (SUID), which includes SIDS. These same genetic profiles have also been found in adults who died from Sudden Cardiac Death, a leading cause of death in the United States.

Another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that infants born to mothers with obesity are at an increased risk for SUID. These findings highlight the complex nature of SIDS and how multiple factors can contribute to its occurrence.

Dr. Jan-Marino Ramirez, Director of the Center for Integrative Brain Research at Seattle Children's and co-author of both papers, stated that "our research indicates that genetic variants play significant and diverse roles in deaths from SIDS." He further explained that these vulnerabilities often occur alongside other risk factors such as maternal smoking, prone sleeping, obesity, or even mild infections.

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Ramirez predicts that genetic testing will become an important tool not only in understanding and explaining SIDS but also in preventing it and other forms of sudden deaths later in life. "The impact can be huge," he added, "given that more than 1,000 people die daily, suddenly and unexpectedly."

At the summit, Ramirez and his colleagues will also discuss new research suggesting that genetic testing can predict which children are at highest risk of dying from SIDS. This research, which has not yet been published, uses polygenic scoring to analyze the effects of multiple genetic variants and predict a child's risk. This could potentially identify roughly ten percent of SIDS cases in the United States.

SIDS is the leading cause of death for infants one month to one year old in developed countries, yet medical science has struggled to understand its causes. In the early 1990s, Dr. Ed Mitchell from the University of Auckland, New Zealand was among the first to observe a correlation between the sleeping position of infants and SIDS risk. This led to the recommendation for parents to place babies on their backs to sleep, resulting in a 50% decrease in SIDS rates over the years. However, SIDS continues to be a concern for new parents.

According to Ramirez, genetic vulnerabilities could explain why some infants are still at risk despite following safe sleep practices and reducing smoking rates. He and his team at Microsoft have been able to make significant progress through their partnership and access to a database of whole genome sequencing from 340 infants who died from SIDS.

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The Aaron Matthew SIDS Foundation funds this database, with genetic samples from Aaron Kahan, after whom the foundation is named. It was discovered that Aaron had three mutations associated with heart and lung disease that contributed to his death in 2003.

John Kahan, co-founder of The Aaron Matthew SIDS Research Foundation with his wife Heather Kahan, expressed his gratitude for the progress made through data science and AI in understanding SIDS. "The database we've built has finally given our family answers about what caused our son's death," he said. "But what's most important is that we're a few steps closer to preventative measures so that fewer parents have to suffer through the loss of a child like we did."

Juan M. Lavista Ferres, PhD, CVP and Chief Data Scientist for the AI for Good Lab at Microsoft, also emphasized the potential of AI in supporting medical research. "While we're still far from fully understanding or preventing SIDS, I'm encouraged by the progress we've made through close collaboration," he said.

The partnership between Seattle Children's and Microsoft has provided valuable insights into the complex nature of SIDS and brings hope for future preventative measures. As research continues to advance, it is clear that this unique partnership will play a crucial role in unraveling the mysteries of SIDS and potentially saving countless lives.

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