OBJECTIVE: To perform a critical review by gathering all the available information about apparent life-threatening events. DATA SOURCES: Bibliographic review of the articles published in Portuguese, English and Spanish from the electronic databases Medline, Lilacs and SciELO, using the key-words: apparent life-threatening events, apparent life-threatening event, infant, apnea, monitoring, and cyanosis. DATA SYNTHESIS: Apparent life-threatening events define sudden events with, a combination of apnea, color change, and marked change in the muscle tone, that have various underlying causes. The real incidence remains unknown, and it affects infants from 11 to 12 weeks of age. There is no association between apparent life-threatening events and sudden infant death syndrome. There are many possible causes for the events, and they must be investigated even in apparently healthy infants, because the presence of a severe underlying disease associated with the event is possible. If the cause of the apparent life-threatening events is found, it must be treated properly. If there is no explainable cause, the event is considered idiopathic and generally has a benign course. CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary to investigate all the infants taken to the pediatric emergency unit after experiencing an apparent life-threatening event, since there is the risk of morbidity caused by an underlying disease or the event itself, as well as subsequent mortality. Consensus guidelines about the investigation in apparently healthy infants who experienced apparent life-threatening events are not available. Most authors recommend that careful observation and hospital monitoring should be performed for at least for 24 hours after the event.
infantile apparent life-threatening event; infant; death; apnea
