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 Monitorwill 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”. Professor Rawlinson, 2006.  

SIDS and Kids Resources  

Please find below statistical resources covering a range of topics including infant mortality rates, birth rates, SIDS and Kids Fast Facts, Stillbirth and historical information.  

SIDS and Kids uses the Australian Bureau of Statistics as its main source of Statistical information – please note that the most current information available from the Bureau is year end 2007. As new figures become available the information contained in the links below will be updated.  

SIDS and Kids Facts and Figures:   

SIDS and Kids Fast Facts and Figures.pdf  

SIDS Deaths Australia 1981 – 2007.pdf  

SIDS in Australia 1981 – 2000: A statistical overview.pdf – Produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on behalf of SIDS and Kids. (With special thanks to Malcolm Wilkinson, Senior Research Fellow and Elizabeth Skuza, The Richie Centre for Baby Health Research, Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development, Monash University, Clayton Victoria). Canberra, ACT, 2003.  

International Comparison of SIDS Rates.pdf  

Perinatal Deaths Australia 1998 – 2007.pdf – Graph showing perinatal death rate in Australia from 1998 to 2007. (Perinatal = stillbirth or neonatal deaths). (Neonatal = deaths within 28 days of birth). (Stillbirth = delivery of a baby after 20 weeks gestation/400 grams who did not show evidence of life after delivery).  

Infant mortality in Australia.pdf – Infant mortality rates in Australia (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous).  

SIDS Australia Rates 1989 to 2007 Infant Safe Sleeping.pdf – SIDS death rates from 1989 to 2007 showing the impact since the introduction of the Infant Safe Sleeping Campaign in 1990.  

Child Drownings Australia 2009.pdf – Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSAA) Drownings in Australia to 2009.  

SIDS and Kids Australia has a National Scientific Advisory Group (NSAG) providing advice on research initiatives and gaps in policy in relation to SIDS and Kids.  

NSAG review and recommend research development, research initiatives and public and health professional educational campaigns. Members of the group, who have no conflict of interest, are also responsible for providing advise to SIDS and Kids on the projects that best fall within SIDS and Kids’ research funding protocol.  

The National Scientific Advisory Group membership consists of:  

Adjunct Professor Jeanine Young
Nursing Director Research, Royal Children’s Hospital and Health Service District, Brisbane; 

Dr Susan Arbuckle
Head Histopathology, Patholgy Department, Westmead Childrens Hospital, Sydney;  

Dr Susan Beal
Paediatrician and SIDS researcher, Adelaide;  

Professor Roger Byard
Special Forensic Pathologist and Clinical Professor of Paediatrics and Pathology, University of Adelaide  

Professor Gay Edgecombe
Professor and Clinical Chair, Community Child Health Nursing, RMIT, Melbourne;  

Ms Vicki Flenady
Clinical Director, Centre for Clinical Studies, Mater Health Services, Brisbane;  

Professor Caroline Homer
Professor of Midwifery, Centre for Midwifery and Family Health, Faculty of Nursing, University of Technology, Sydney;  

Professor Heather Jeffery
Head of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Newborn Care, Sydney;  

Professor Yee Khong
Department of Histopathology, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide;  

Associate ProfessorJane Freemantle
School of Population Health, University of Melbourne;  

Dr Jacqueline Scurlock
Paediatrician, Visiting Medical Officer at Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth;  

Dr Janet Vaughan
Obstetrician, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney.  

Ms Leanne Raven
CEO SIDS and Kids Australia, Melbourne.  

The National Scientific Advisory Group meets 4 times yearly either face-to-face or via teleconference.  

You can download a copy of the Research List in PDF format below:  

Research 2008.pdf 

Please note when accessing links in the Research Listings you will leave the SIDS and Kids website.   

International Conferences 2010 

SIDS and Kids in is proud to be hosting an international conference in Sydney on 8, 9, and 10 October 2010.  

The conference, “Precious lives: global collaboration in stillbirth and infant death” is the first joint conference of the International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA) and the International Society for the Study and Prevention of Perinatal and Infant Death (ISPID). Hosted in conjunction with the Australian and New Zealand Stillbirth Alliance (ANZSA).  

For more information visit the conference website www.isaispid2010.com.  

2004 SIDS and Kids Pathology Workshop  

Adoption of a National Consensus for the Definition of SIDS and Autopsy Approach to Unexpected Infant Death. On 22 and 23 March 2004, SIDS and Kids hosted the first Australian Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Pathology Workshop in Canberra. At this Workshop paediatric and forensic pathologists from each state and territory came together for the first time to discuss problems and issues related to diagnosis and forensic management of sudden infant death in Australia.  

The Workshop had ambitious goals:  

· To reach a national consensus about the definition for SIDS and;  

· To discuss the development of a nationally accepted SIDS autopsy protocol.  

The meeting, in fact, far exceeded these goals. Extensive progress was also made towards the development of an agreed Australian SIDS Autopsy Protocol.  

For the full report download below:  

Australian SIDS Pathology Workshop 2004.pdf