Abstract □ 88

The concentrations of the most common dioxin congeners were measured in the liver, the kidneys and in subcutaneous fatty tissue of 26 infants who died suddenly and unexpectedly. The cases could be divided into 2 groups consisting of 14 infants (12 male, 2 female; age 5 - 59 weeks, average 25.4 weeks; body-mass-index [BMI] 13.59 - 23.15, average 17.09) who died in 1991 and 1992 and in 12 cases (7 male, 5 female; age 3 - 42 weeks, average 20.3 weeks; BMI 13.50 - 18.64, average 16.16) who died in 1996 and 1997.

The autopsies were carried out using a standardised protocol and additionally the parents were asked to supply details of the nutrition conditions as duration of breast feeding, type of additional food, number of meals and the age of the mother and the birth order of the infants were also recorded.

From the results obtained by correlating these parameters with the dioxin concentrations three main factors could be established.

  1. 1

    There was a significant decrease in the total dioxin concentration from 1991/92 to 1996/97 indicating a decrease in the environmental dioxin levels due to a decrease in dioxin emission.

  2. 2

    The birth order was indirectly and the duration of breast feeding directly proportional to the dioxin concentrations showing that the mothers can decontaminate themselves by breastfeeding.

  3. 3

    An accumulation of specific dioxin congeners was observed in the liver tissue but the pathophysiological significance of these observation cannot be given at present.