Abstract
The quantities of sinus tachycardia in 24-h recordings of the electrocardiogram from 16 full-term infants (≥37 weeks gestation) who were subsequently victims of the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), from 230 randomly selected age-matched full-term survivors and from 64 full-term survivors matched for age and birth weight were measured by computer and manual analysis techniques. Of 16 infants dying of SIDS, 7 had elevated levels of sinus tachycardia (>95th centile in controls) (P<0.01). Although high levels of sinus tachycardia might be of value in identifying infants at high risk of SIDS, these encouraging findings must first be validated by further prospective studies.
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Abbreviations
- IHR:
-
instantaneous heart rate
- SIDS:
-
sudden infant death syndrome
- ECG:
-
electrocardiogram
References
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Southall, D.P., Stevens, V., Franks, C.I. et al. Sinus tachycardia in term infants preceding sudden infant death. Eur J Pediatr 147, 74–78 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00442617
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00442617