Role of Infection, Suffocation, and Bottle-feeding in Cot Death: An Analysis of Some Factors in the Histories of 110 Cases and their Controls

Subsequent histological examination of lung sections of 33 cases provisionally classified as "cot death" revealed a cause of death in only two (6 per cent.) of them.In six out of thirteen cases which were provisionally classified as probably due to pneumonia, tracheo- bronchitis, etc., the cause of death could not be demonstrated histologically on the material available.Hence the provisional classification shown in Table I almost certainly underestimates the proportion of "cot deaths". 1