A Systematic Review of Confounders Effecting on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) remains the leading cause of infant mortality, affecting countries worldwide, including both wealthy and developing nations. Many confounders are responsible for SIDS, which still can be avoided, and the prevalence can stop to save infant deaths. The present systematic review has been conducted to distinguish those responsible factors. The objective of the current systematic review was to identify those confounders and corelate them with SIDS. For conducting the current systematic review, the basic online scientific data bases i.e., (Scopus, ProQuest, Science-Direct, Web of Science along with PubMed) were utilized for searching along with the manual research on Google Scholar. The present systematic review was in line with ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards and recommendations. A 20-point appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS tool) was used to critically evaluate the quality of the used studies. Additionally, applying the framework of PECO-S (Population -Exposure -Comparison -Outcome -Study design) numerous observational studies were enrolled for this review. Out of 1989 studies obtained, 24 studies fulfill the inclusion criteria and are thus included in the present review. The original research studies included in the present systematic review were all in “English” language published during the time duration of 2015-2023. Overall, 24 research papers covering 11 different countries’ sample population were included. More number of infants died due to SIDS in the age group of 2-4 months. Key confounders associated with SIDS include parental smoking (64.3%), low-income status (56.9%), bed-sharing (58.7%), and non-breastfeeding (over 90%). Additionally, maternal education, genetic factors, and inequalities in living conditions were identified as significant contributors to SIDS. The review underscores the importance of targeted interventions to address these confounders, such as promoting breastfeeding, reducing parental smoking, and improving maternal education and socioeconomic conditions. By addressing these factors, the incidence of SIDS can be significantly reduced, ultimately saving the lives of infants globally.