Earlier this month, scientists published a finding suggesting that reduced activity of a particular enzyme is associated with a greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome, a mysterious condition that killed about 1,250 infants under the age of one in the United States in 2019. The study, published May 6 in eBioMedicine (a Lancet journal), offers preliminary evidence suggesting that measuring this cholinergic enzyme in living infants could indicate a newborn’s risk of SIDS. But experts tell The Scientist that the study itself oversells its findings—and that subsequent news coverage and social media chatter have exaggerated them further, reaching the point of incredulity.
“Sydney researcher who lost son to SIDS makes breakthrough in preventing ‘every parent’s worst nightmare’,” a tweet from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation exclaimed on May 7. Other early coverage of the paper was even more zealous. “Researchers Pinpoint Reason Infants Die From SIDS,” read the headline of ...
