Record number of babies die of 'unknown causes'

A record number of babies in the U.S. officially died of "unknown causes" according to the latest federal statistics, evidence of growing medical uncertainty about sudden infant death.

At the same time, reported cases of sudden infant death syndrome held steady at historically low levels.

The latest numbers, which cover 2005, were released this month by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and underscore the medical chaos surrounding how coroners and medical examiners investigate and diagnose the deaths of America's babies.

Federal health officials reported that 1,390 infants died of "ill-defined and unknown causes of mortality" in 2005, an 18 percent increase over the previous year and the largest annual number on record since the early 1970s when SIDS became a commonly recognized diagnosis for infant deaths.

"That's just the trend that we are seeing these days. People are not comfortable calling these deaths anything too specific," said Theresa Covington, director of the National Center for Child Death Review Policy in Michigan. "They want to wait and see where this whole issue is going."

The trend is worrisome to many infant-safety advocates and researchers trying to unravel what circumstances and biological traits are common among babies who die from no obvious medical cause. For parents, uncertainty about the cause of death worsens already grievous emotional wounds.

"We need to give our parents every opportunity to keep their children healthy and that means knowing more about sudden infant deaths," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who is leading congressional inquiries into the problem. "With more research, we can help parents prevent some of these deaths into the future."

Key members of Congress are considering measures to promote detailed standards of investigation for infant deaths. Also under consideration is increased funding for forensic training of

coroners' staff and new incentives to expand local and statewide review teams for child deaths.

"A growing number of coroners are afraid to write down 'SIDS' or any other cause that they suspect in a death, unfortunately," said Melissa Clements, whose 5-month-old daughter, Chassidy, was declared the victim of "undetermined" causes in 2001. "We are getting false information that is downplaying the number of SIDS deaths, and that could end up cutting funding for important research."