Circumcision and SIDS

Elhaik E.  A “wear and tear” hypothesis to explain sudden infant death syndrome.  Front. Neurol., 28 October 2016 | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2016.00180

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of death among USA infants under 1 year of age accounting for ~2,700 deaths per year. Although formally SIDS dates back at least 2,000 years and was even mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Kings 3:19), its etiology remains unexplained prompting the CDC to initiate a sudden unexpected infant death case registry in 2010. Due to their total dependence, the ability of the infant to allostatically regulate stressors and stress responses shaped by genetic and environmental factors is severely constrained. We propose that SIDS is the result of cumulative painful, stressful, or traumatic exposures that begin in utero and tax neonatal regulatory systems incompatible with allostasis. We also identify several putative biochemical mechanisms involved in SIDS. We argue that the important characteristics of SIDS, namely male predominance (60:40), the significantly different SIDS rate among USA Hispanics (80% lower) compared to whites, 50% of cases occurring between 7.6 and 17.6 weeks after birth with only 10% after 24.7 weeks, and seasonal variation with most cases occurring during winter, are all associated with common environmental stressors, such as neonatal circumcision and seasonal illnesses. We predict that neonatal circumcision is associated with hypersensitivity to pain and decreased heart rate variability, which increase the risk for SIDS. We also predict that neonatal male circumcision will account for the SIDS gender bias and that groups that practice high male circumcision rates, such as USA whites, will have higher SIDS rates compared to groups with lower circumcision rates. SIDS rates will also be higher in USA states where Medicaid covers circumcision and lower among people that do not practice neonatal circumcision and/or cannot afford to pay for circumcision. We last predict that winter-born premature infants who are circumcised will be at higher risk of SIDS compared to infants who experienced fewer nociceptive exposures. All these predictions are testable experimentally using animal models or cohort studies in humans. Our hypothesis provides new insights into novel risk factors for SIDS that can reduce its risk by modifying current infant care practices to reduce nociceptive exposures…

Circumcision contributes to the rise in allostatic load and increased risk for SIDS through multiple conduits. Circumcision produces crush and incisional injuries during amputation, resulting in damage to normal prepuce tissue, the associated nerves, and blood vessels. Wound healing manifested by hyperaemia and swelling at day 7 postoperative is observed in 70% of infants with minimally retractile prepuces seen in infants circumcised before 1 year of age with subsequent bacterial carriage of skin commensals. Circumcised males have increased pain responses to childhood immunization 4–6 months post-surgery  consistent with central sensitization. The abnormal development of sensory pathways in the developing nervous system elicited by the pain during critical postnatal periods is manifested in later life following nociceptive reexposure by abnormal sensory thresholds and pain responses that are not restricted to the original site of postnatal trauma. Neonatal nociceptive exposure induces long-term hypoalgesia or hyperalgesia depending on the nature and timing of the trauma and is consistent with surgery and pain adversely impacting neurodevelopment independent of anesthetic.

Post-circumcision, tactile hypersensitivity increases due to post-surgical and -traumatic mechanisms that contribute toward allostasis and the risk of SIDS. This is evident by the increase in toll-like receptor 4  associated with post-circumcision wound healing, which is also observed in post-surgical tactile hypersensitivity in males and dependent on testosterone . Following peripheral nerve injury, the purinergic receptors in the spinal cord microglial cells release BDNF  and mitogen-activated protein kinase p38  that contribute to neuropathic pain and tactile hypersensitivity. Due to their testosterone dependency, they are seen only in males. The testosterone surge occurring during the first 2- to 4-month period may increase susceptibility to the initial stages of infection and is consistent with the peak in SIDS mortality.

Male neonates subjected to circumcision can experience severe cardiorespiratory pain responses, including cyanosis, apnea, increased heart rate, and increased pitch (fundamental frequency) of cry (as high as 800–2000 Hz) associated with decreased heart rate variability, i.e., decreased vagotonia , a likely risk factor for SIDS. Other circumcision sequelae of sufficient severity to require emergency room evaluation or hospital admission and contribute toward allostasis include infection, urinary retention, inflammatory redness and swelling ascribed to healing, and amputation/necrosis of the glans. Behavioral abnormalities, such as eating disturbance and disturbed sleep, are also the consequence of pain exposure.

One mechanism by which circumcision may elicit SIDS concerns the inhibition of nerves involved in nociception processing that produces prolonged apnea while impairing cortical arousal. Neonatal surgery that traumatizes peripheral nerves with associated tactile hypersensitivity followed by a subsequent surgery later in development can increase spinal cord microglia signaling and elicit persistent hyperalgesia. It can also produce post-surgical hyperalgesia that subsequently alters postnatal development of the rostral rostroventral medulla (RVM), which controls the excitability of spinal neurons by spinally projecting neurons from the nucleus paragigantocellularis lateralis (PGCL) and the nucleus raphe magnus. Alterations in the RVM result in a descending inhibition of spinal reflex excitability on nociception . Inhibition of RVM neurons was shown to limit the duration of the laryngeal chemoreflex and produce prolonged apnea that contributes toward SIDS, particularly when combined with stimuli that inhibit respiration…

Another mechanism that can explain the SIDS toll following circumcision is the loss of ~1–2 ounces (oz) of blood out of a total of ~11 oz that a 3,000 gram male newborn has, the equivalent of ~1–2 blood donations in an adult. Excessive bleeding is highly common in circumcision with reports range from 0.1 to 35% in neonates. However, even moderate bleeding puts the infant as risk, and, being an inherent part of the procedure, it is not reported as a complication…

Fortunately, the prepuce has been well conserved throughout mammalian evolution, which attests to its functional importance, and allows carrying out animal studies. Our hypothesis can be tested by circumcising the prepuce of mammalian animal models and measuring whether an excess of SIDS is observed among cases when compared with untreated controls…

In humans, we can expect higher SIDS rates in Anglophone countries that adopted male neonatal circumcision in the nineteenth century, compared to Iberio-American that traditionally have opposed circumcision. We can also expect a higher incidence of SIDS in USA states where Medicaid, the most common health insurance, covers circumcision, compares to states where this procedure is not covered by Medicaid after accounting for culture and socioeconomic status.