Almost a fifth of infant and child deaths are sudden, unexpected, and have no immediate cause, a report has found. The report, by England’s National Child Mortality Database, said 19% of child deaths remain unexplained.
Less than half can be explained even after all investigations are complete and a detailed review has taken place, it discovered. Those behind the report say sudden deaths were associated with particular circumstances.
In infants under one, unexplained death was significantly more likely to affect those in the most deprived neighbourhoods (42%), compared to those in less deprived areas (8%). They were strongly associated with low birthweight, prematurity, multiple births, larger families, admission to a neonatal unit, maternal smoking during pregnancy, young maternal age, parental smoking and parental drug misuse.
