SIDS research
SIDS and Kids Australia is a member of both the International Society for the study and Prevention of Perinatal and Infant Death (ISPID) and the International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA). Through these memberships we maintain strong relationships with international researchers and research centres. We collaborate with researchers worldwide in gathering data to support research projects and providing advice or comment on global research strategies and directions.
Within Australia, SIDS and Kids has established a National Scientific Advisory Group who review and recommend research development, research initiatives and public and health professional educational campaigns.
Since 1988 SIDS and Kids Australia has contributed over $16 million to research into the possible causes and prevention of infant death, SIDS, stillbirth and health promotion.
Current and recently funded research projects
2009 ambulatory fetal monitoring
This groundbreaking research has been partly funded by SIDS and Kids and incorporates the accelerometer, a tiny electronic device that was originally developed for car airbags and is now used in Nintendo Wii, the Apple iPhone and Nike+iPod shoes.
Biomedical engineers adapted this technology to develop the fetal monitor used in the research project. The fetal monitor is being tested at the Royal Women’s Hospital, The Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital (RBWH) and the Mater Mothers’ Hospital. It uses the accelerometer technology to measure babies’ movements over a prolonged period of time.
The team of researchers led by Professor Paul Colditz, Director of the Perinatal Research Centre, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, has two major aims for this research. One, that it provides a framework to understand what a ‘normal’ pattern of movement is for a baby in the final term — a topic that is vastly under-researched. And two, that it potentially leads to a low-cost, non-invasive device that could be attached to the stomach of mothers who are concerned about lack of movement.
Pregnant women feel about one-third of the baby’s movements. The best way of measuring all the baby’s movements is during an ultrasound, however that is expensive and means that the pregnant woman needs to attend hospital and lie still for about half an hour to have this testing done. The ambulatory fetal activity monitor will enable these measurements to be taken whilst the pregnant women is mobile and going about normal day-to-day activities and over a longer period of time. It is hoped that by using this device, health practitioners will obtain more information that will assist in the prevention of stillbirth.
As the next phase of the study will involve extensive clinical trials, it will be several years before the project is completed and the ambulatory fetal activity monitor has potential to be available in the market place. This project is jointly funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and SIDS and Kids.
2006–2008 Transplacental transmission of viruses and pathogenesis of stillbirth, preterm births and congenital abnormalities
A collaborative project between Virology Division SEALS POW Hospital, NSW (Prof Bill Rawlinson, Dr Lyndall Brennan), RPA Women’s and Babies (A/Prof Heather Jeffery), RNS Hospital (Prof Jonathan Morris), CH Westmead (A/Prof Cheryl Jones) & RHW (Dr Kei Lui).
The project aimed to find new techniques for testingi for nfection among pregnant women and to determine what types of viruses cause stillbirth, preterm problems and abnormalities. A third of stillbirths are still unexplained after post-mortem examination. Viruses are the most likely candidate. CMV is the most common virus found in stillbirths to date, according to our research which was funded by SIDS and Kids”.
Last Reviewed: 01 January 2006
