The United States has made great strides over the last two decades in preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but to reduce the death rate even further, Congress ought to consider ordering uniform investigation standards for all infant deaths.

About 2,250 babies a year succumb to SIDS, about half the death toll recorded in 1990. Yet an equal number of infants die in circumstances that officials often classify as unexplained.

A Scripps Howard News Service investigation of SIDS deaths concluded that geography —- not medical science —- often determines whether a baby is listed as dying of SIDS or other causes, such as choking themselves on bed linens or accidental suffocation while sleeping with adults.

Some coroners and medical examiners use less strenuous protocols in studying why infants die, opting for a meaningless declaration of "death by unknown causes." More than half of Alabama's infant deaths from 2000 through 2004 got this classification, the Scripps Howard investigation found. (Georgia coroners and medical examiners did much better, attributing only 10 percent of infant deaths to unknown causes. SIDS was determined to be the cause in nearly 80 percent of infant deaths in that time period in Georgia.) U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) is considering a bill that would require uniform death scene reports, the creation of a federal "case registry" on all infant deaths and an independent review of unexplained cases.

Progress toward reducing SIDS began when health and safety experts started stressing to parents that infants should always be placed on their backs when sleeping.

Since the exact cause of SIDS remains a mystery, the more we know about unexplained infant deaths, the more we can learn how to prevent them. Ensuring that all mysterious deaths are thoroughly investigated and the details reported is the best way to that.

—- Mike King, for the editorial board (mking@ajc.com).