Factors associated with infant death after apparent life-threatening event (ALTE).

Objective: To detect factors associated with greater risk of death in infants after an apparent life-threatening event (ALTE).

Methods: This cross-sectional, retrospective, descriptive and analytic study evaluated infants younger than 12 months who had a sudden event of cyanosis, pallor, hypotonia or apnea and were seen in the emergency department of a tertiary university hospital. Forward stepwise logistic regression (Wald) was used to calculate and adjust odds ratios to evaluate associations.

Results: Mean age of the 145 patients included in the study was 105 days (median = 65 days). Eleven (7.6%) died, and their mean age was 189 days (median = 218 days). Mean age of survivors was 98 days (median = 62 days) (p = 0.003). Activity before the event, prematurity and number of events were not associated with death. A significant association was found with pallor. Of the 11 infants, 3 had spontaneous resolution of ALTE, whereas 8 patients [27.6%; p < 0.001; OR = 14.3 (95%CI 3.51-58.3)] did not. The associations with respiratory or cardiovascular disease were also significant. In multivariate analysis, immediate spontaneous resolution [p = 0.015; OR = 6.06 (95%CI 1.02-35.94)] and diagnosis of cardiovascular disease [p = 0.047; OR = 164.27 (95%CI 7.34-3.673.78)] remained statistically significant.

Conclusion: Infants who experienced an ALTE had a higher risk of subsequent death when their age was greater than 6 months and the event had a long duration, particularly when ALTE was associated with cardiovascular disease.