Summary- The number of reported cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has decreased by 50 percent since 1990. That is an improvement and obviously good news, however researchers are not quite sure why this is happening. Is it actually public health improvements or is it simply a difference in how deaths are recorded by creating a new database? The CDC and the Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Case Registry, will help researchers decipher the cause of these deaths in order to determine which cases are actually from SUID (Sudden Unexpected Infant Death) or just whether the baby was being put to sleep on his/her back or stomach. SUID will be used to describe any case where there is not an immediate explanation for the death of a healthy-seeming baby. More medical data will be drawn such as medical histories of both the baby and the mother, education and criminal record of any caregivers and information about the baby's sleep position and crib. The database could allow researchers to resolve any "unknown cause" cases. 
Opinion- I believe that SIDS has been one of those cryptic things in life that are just unexplainable and no one has ever come up with a valid reason for. I believe this new database will aid in solving the mysteries of SIDS as well as determining whether sudden deaths of infants are caused by accidents or the actual syndrome. This, in my opinion, is important for parents of the babies because if the cause of death is definitely known, then it will bring a sense of peace to the parents knowing that researchers and doctors were able to find out what the cause of death was to the baby. Parents will be reassured to know if it was something they may have done wrong with the child or just the syndrome. However, there are still many remaining uncertainties with this issue therefore I believe more time should be put into determining whether SIDS rates are declining or is it just the new database.
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