Research is conducted in pursuit of our strategy: to halve the number of SIDS by 2020 and continue to reduce sudden and unexpected deaths in infancy. The Grantholders meeting is an opportunity for researchers from a diverse range of specialties to share their findings with colleagues and guests to further their own and others’ knowledge of sudden infant death.
The 2017 Grantholders meeting took place on Thursday 14th September at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), London. The meeting was led by the Chair of The Lullaby Trust’s Scientific Committee, Professor Helen Ball. More than 60 attendees including researchers, bereaved parents, and healthcare and policy professionals listened to Lullaby Trust Grantholders present on their current research and heard about two new research projects for 2017.
Presentations from Grantholders included:
- The feasibility of a new approach for improving infant sleep-sharing safety: Final report on Let’s Talk About Sleep! in NHS Sunderland and NHS Fife – Prof Helen Ball, Professor of Anthropology, Durham University
- Oto-acoustic signals investigation study (OASIS) update: The limitations of post-hoc recruitment to research studies and the potential value of establishing disease registers for future research – Prof Peter Fleming, Consultant Paediatrician, University Hospitals Bristol
- Sudden unexpected death in childhood (SUDC): characteristics, autopsy findings and investigation – Dr Victoria Bryant, Clinical Research Associate, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
- The prevalence of Long QT Syndrome gene variants in SIDS – Dr Robert Coombs, Consultant Neonatologist (retired), Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
New projects for 2017:
- Cessation in Pregnancy Incentives Trial (CPIT): a multi-centre phase-III randomised controlled trial – Prof David Tappin, Professor of Clinical Trials for Children, Glasgow University
- Investigating the microbiome of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy and childhood – Prof Neil Sebire, Professor of Paediatric Pathology, Great Ormond St Hospital
The date for the 2018 Grantholders Meeting will be announced shortly.