Abstract

Background: The sudden infant's death syndrome (SD) is the leading cause of death in children under one year. Despite advances in its study, the pathogenesis has not been yet fully elucidated. Aim: To assess the prevalence of SD in Chilean infants and its changes in recent years. Material and Methods: Review of birth and death databases of the Ministry of Health from 1997 to 2009. All cases diagnosed as SD, according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition, were selected. A demographic analysis was performed and mortality rates for each year were calculated. Results: We identified 1442 cases of SD (847 males, 517 deaths at home). The median age of death was 2 months (0 to 11.0 months). Ninety six percent of deaths occurred in children aged <6 months. Mortality rate for SD was 0.45/1000 live births. There was a 23% reduction between 1997 and 2009. When analyzing geographic distribution, more cases were found in the Southern latitudes of the country. Conclusions: The overall rate of SD in Chile is higher than in European countries and in North America. The observed decrease in cases over the years is still far from optimal.