Home monitoring of infants at risk for SIDS: Hard lessons learned

摘要

Since 1969, when a monitor of heart rate and respiration for infants was described, the possibility of intercepting episodes of apnea, thought to produce significant hypoxia, became plausible. The potential "merit" of monitoring was reinforced by some who proposed that apneic episodes were precursors of SIDS. A National Institute of Health Consensus Conference [Pediatrics, 1987 : 79] in 1986 concluded that although the effectiveness of home car-diorespiratory monitors in reducing infant morbidity or mortality remained to be established (despite widespread use), "cardiorespiratory monitoring or an alternative therapy is medically indicated for certain groups of infants at high risk for sudden death." Consequently premature infants, siblings of SIDS victims, and infants who experienced an apparent life-threatening event in the USA were commonly sent home on monitors.