The NICHD SIDS Cooperative Epidemiological Study was designed to enable identification of risk factors which could differentiate SIDS infants from non-SIDS infants. The design is that of a multicenter, population-based, case-control study with a sample of 838 SIDS cases (800 singleton and 38 multiple birth SIDS cases) ascertained under a common necropsy protocol. There were 1,600 matched living singleton control infants and 40 co-multiple birth control infants recruited into the study. It is the largest detailed epidemiological study of SIDS ever undertaken. Data were collected for babies who died over a 15-month period from October, 1978 through December, 1979. Every infant death was autopsied in accordance with a common necropsy protocol developed specifically for the study. Twenty-six different slides of tissues were preserved for detailed examination by a panel of three SIDS pathology experts. Under an Inter Agency Agreement with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), technical support is being provided for the preparation of a SIDS Histopathology Atlas and """"""""study sets"""""""" to be used for the education of practicing forensic pathologists or pathology students. Also, the possible association between elevated fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) levels and SIDS is being investigated in a study begun during the past year. In another SIDS risk factor study, techniques of time series analysis are being used to examine potential abnormalities in the development of neuro-physiological and cardio-respiratory control mechanisms in the first three months of life. The study materials consist of computerized data sets from long-term electrophysiological recordings of infants from three earlier SIDS research studies. Comparisons have been made among the following groups of infants: subsequent siblings of SIDS infants, """"""""near-miss"""""""" infants, twins, matched controls, and infants who later died of SIDS.
