
A genetic test known as chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) could help identify the cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or its counterpart in older children, known as sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC), finds a study led by researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital. The researchers, led by Richard Goldstein, MD, Ingrid Holm, MD, MPH, and Catherine Brownstein, MPH, PhD, call for making CMA routine in investigating SIDS and SUDC. They published their study findings online on November 7, 2022 in the journal Advanced Genetics. The open-access article is titled “Copy Number Variation and Structural Genomic Findings in 116 Cases of Sudden Unexplained Death between 1 and 28 Months of Age.” “We think we have enough information to say that CMA is worth considering when a child has died without explanation, and worth exploring further as a way to understand these deaths better,” says Dr. Goldstein, who directs Robert’s Program on Sudden Unexpected Death in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s and was a senior author on the study.