| Genes Linked to SIDS -
22-05-2006, 07:01 PM
As many as 2,500 babies die every year because of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome. Now, scientists believe genetic heart defects may cause nearly 15 percent of those deaths.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have added two more cardiac genes to the list of possible causes of SIDS.
The findings are significant for two reasons. First, parents who lost a child to SIDS may now have answers to have questions about why their apparently healthy baby died. Second, parents who have lost an infant to SIDS could talk to their physician to make sure others in the family do not have the same heart defect and hopefully prevent more deaths.
The genes researched in this study are caveolin-3 (CAV3) and the cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2). Both have a roll in the heart's electrical system.
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