Immune biomarkers as an adjunct diagnostic modality of infection in cases of sudden and unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) at Tygerberg Medico-legal Mortuary, Cape Town, South Africa

摘要

Child mortality is a major health concern worldwide with over 4.2 million infants dying before reaching the age of one year in 2016 alone. Several international intervention initiatives have resulted in a decrease in the number of infant deaths; however, the incidence of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remain unacceptably high. SIDS still accounts for approximately 50–80% of SUDI cases, followed by infection.The aim of this study was to investigate a selection of immune biomarkers that are associated with an immune response in an effort to support the diagnosis of an infectious cause(“Infection”)e.g. bronchopneumonia, interstitial pneumonitis, etc., instead ofSIDSin SUDI cases. C-reactive protein and 18 different cytokines were retrospectively quantified in serum collected during post-mortem investigations of SUDI cases admitted to the Tygerberg Medico-legal Mortuary in the Western Cape Province of South Africa between 2015 and 2017. Statistical comparison was done between infants with a final cause of death (COD) ofInfectionandSIDSto investigate any correlations between the immune markers and sociodemographic information of the groups. A p-value of?