OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence and describe clinical characteristics of seizure disorders and epilepsy as causes of apparent life- threatening event (ALTE) in children admitted at the emergency and followed in a tertiary hospital. METHOD Cross-sectional study with prospective data collection using specific guidelines to determine the etiology of ALTE. RESULTS During the study, 30 (4....

BACKGROUND Children who present to the emergency department following an apparent life-threatening event (ALTE) often appear well, have a normal physical examination, and usually do well. The incidence of mortality following an event appears to occur infrequently, but has not been well described. However, it has been our experience that children who are victims of occult child abuse have a high...

Definitions Also referred to as crib or cot death, SIDS has been defined by the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on Infantile Apnea and Home Monitoring as “the sudden death of an infant or young child, which is unexplained by history and in which a thorough postmortem evaluation fails to demonstrate an adequate cause of death.” A thorough postmortem evaluation incl...

AIM To determine whether biochemical parameters of cholinergic and oxidative stress function including red cell acetylcholinesterase (AChE), serum/plasma thyroglobulin, selenium, iron, ferritin, vitamins C, E, and A affect risk in apparent life-threatening event (ALTE), sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI). To assess these biochemical parameters as ...

We investigated the clinical presentations, diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, and prognosis from follow-up of infants with apparent life-threatening events (ALTE). In addition, the relationship between the clinical characteristics of patients and significant intervention scores was analyzed. We enrolled patients younger than 12 months who were diagnosed with ALTE from January 2005 to Decem...

BACKGROUND An apparent life-threatening event (ALTE) refers to the sudden occurrence of a breathing abnormality, color change, or alteration in muscle tone or mental status in an infant. Several patients with ALTEs admitted to our institution were found to have sustained abusive head injuries. OBJECTIVE To systematically examine the possible causes of ALTEs and their relative frequencies. S...