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Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Nonaccidental Injury

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Paediatric Pathology

Abstract

In Great Britain, about half the deaths occurring in infants between the ages of 1 week and 2 years take place outside hospital, and for this reason might be termed unexpected. The majority are reported to have had no symptoms or only trivial common symptoms such as the majority of infants exhibit at some time with no serious sequelae. In a small proportion of these infants necropsy examination will reveal the cause of death, such as an undiagnosed congenital malformation, often of the cardiovascular system, or a serious acute infective illness, such as meningitis, where a fatal outcome is to be expected in a proportion of cases. In a further group of infants, perhaps a third of the total number, evidence of disease will be present but this will not be of sufficient severity or of a type to account for death. In the remainder no disease process is recognized, although the organs of some infants may have nonspecific histological abnormalities. In a small group there are no abnormal findings.

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Authors
  1. Jean W. Keeling
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Pathology, The London Hospital Medical College, Whitechapel, E1 1BB, London, UK

    Colin L. Berry MD, PhD, FRCPath (Professor of Morbid Anatomy) (Professor of Morbid Anatomy)

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© 1981 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York

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Keeling, J.W. (1981). Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Nonaccidental Injury. In: Berry, C.L. (eds) Paediatric Pathology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3304-9_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3304-9_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-3306-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3304-9

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