Although the numbers of babies dying as a result of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) has fallen considerably in recent years, SIDS remains the largest single group of infant deaths after the first few weeks of life.

The OASIS study is an innovative new study which could lead to identifying babies and young children at risk of sudden, unexpected deaths, by examining data from the newborn hearing screen.

If the results of this initial study prove conclusive, this could have potentially ground-breaking implications for the prevention of SIDS and unexpected deaths of older children in the future.

The study will investigate whether any feature of the routinely collected newborn hearing screen, either alone or in combination with other risk factors, can be used to identify infants at increased risk of unexpected death in infancy.

The design also means that the proposed study will be the first case-control study of unexpected infants deaths in England since the end of SWISS study in 2007, and will provide important information about the current risk factors for SIDS.