Confidential enquiry into postneonatal deaths, 1964-1966.

  • Great Britain. Department of Health and Social Security.
Date:
1970
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Confidential enquiry into postneonatal deaths, 1964-1966. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    infants at welfare clinics, with lack of appreciation there that the child was sick, or from failure to ensure that the sick child was seen by its general practitioner. One instance included in this section relates to an infant who died from whooping cough, the infection contracted from an older sibling who had not been immunized but should have been. Avoidable factors attributed to other circumstances It could be that these cases might be included in some of the categories pre- viously mentioned, but their stories did not clearly indicate where responsibility fell. The nine cases are summarized in the following table. TABLE 4.7 Avoidable factors—other circumstances Underlying cause | of death | Factor No. Ayphsxia | Soft side of carry cot I _ Plastic undersheet 1 _ Foam or soft pillow 3 | Clothes caught on cot I Trauma No clear story 2 Car accident ] In the asphyxial cases it was considered that the factors mentioned at least contributed to the infant deaths. The potential dangers of using a soft-sided carry cot as an infant’s habitual sleeping place, of plastic sheeting and of pillows —especially when soft and foam-filled—should we well recognized; it has long been the Department’s view that pillows should not be used for children under the age of twelve months. In two of the traumatic cases it was not possible to get a clear picture of what had occurred; the outcome might have been different in the car accident case if the mother, holding the infant, had been wearing a safety belt. Summary This survey directs attention to a number of points: 1. It deals with a vulnerable age group in which events occur and develop rapidly so that delay in visiting or in the institution of effective treatment may be vital. 2. The importance is stressed of respiratory infections, with the dangers of sudden unexpected (“‘cot’’?) deaths or rapid progression to severe pulmonary infection, or of gastro-intestinal infections with the possibility of irreversible electrolyte change developing with speed.