Abstract â–¡ 42

Aim During the past two decades the SIDS rate in the Republic of Ireland ranged from a peak of 2.6/1000 live births in the mid 1980's to as low of 0.7/1000 in 1993. However in the years 1996/97 there was an emerging rising trend, but so far provisionally in 1998 we see a decline from 1.4/1000 to a provisional figure of 0.8/1000 live births.

Methods In 1992, the National Sudden Infant Death SIDS Register was established. Over the last seven years this has provided much needed in-depth epidemiological data on SIDS.

Results The trend in the last seven years shows a number of factors in relation to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. However the figures in 1996/97 showed an emerging rising trend which has not been upheld for the provisional 1998 figures. Preliminary review of the data demonstrates that the pattern remains which shows a higher incidence of Sudden Infant Death in the Eastern Health Board area with almost half of the Sudden Unexpected Deaths occurring in this region. Interestingly the 1998 data shows that there has been two periods throughout the year whereby no sudden unexpected deaths were notified to the National Sudden Infant Death Register. Both of those periods reflect both seasonalities. These results and other pertinent factors pertaining to the Irish data in relation to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome for the last seven years will also be presented.

Conclusions Our challenge remains to ascertain the real cause of Sudden Infant Death. It is imperative to maintain SIDS case control studies in order to have sufficient data to help predict that particular area which warrants further investigation.