RT Journal
A1 Bass M
T1 EPidemiology of sudden death syndrome
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1979
FD October 26
VO 242
IS 17
SP 1847
OP 1847
DO 10.1001/jama.1979.03300170013004
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1979.03300170013004
AB To the Editor.— 
    Standfast et al (241:1121, 1979) make one assumption concerning their study on sudden infant death with which I do not agree. They assume that the primary diagnosis of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), as stated in the death certificate, represented the last word before they embarked on an epidemiologic investigation of SIDS. The authors equate the term "SIDS" on a death certificate with the phrase "no disease detected by both clinician and pathologist." It may be true that all infants died of SIDS in the upstate New York study, but one must be cautious when applying statistical methods to a weak diagnosis.The fundamental question in an epidemiologic study on SIDS concerns how data are obtained and to what rigors they are subjected. Since the diagnosis of SIDS is based on exclusion of other disorders, a review of all available data in each infant death, by a panel