Malignant hyperpyrexia and sudden infant death syndrome.

This paper reports three investigations of the suggested relationship between sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and malignant hyperpyrexia (MH). In the first study 151 MH-susceptible families completed a questionnaire designed to identify the incidence of SIDS within their own pedigree. In the second study 106 SIDS families completed a questionnaire designed to identify the incidence of anaesthetic related problems. In the third study, 14 SIDS parents were subjected to muscle biopsy and in vitro halothane contracture and caffeine contracture screening for susceptibility to MH. From the results of the three studies it can be concluded that there is no association between SIDS and MH.