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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Jul;135(4):1179-1190.
doi: 10.1007/s00414-020-02496-6. Epub 2021 Feb 1.

Association between monoamine oxidase A promoter polymorphism and the risk of sudden infant death syndrome: a meta-analysis

Qiaoxia Zhou #  1 , Daoyin Gong #  2 , Yu Zhang  3 , Feijun Huang  4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Association between monoamine oxidase A promoter polymorphism and the risk of sudden infant death syndrome: a meta-analysis

Qiaoxia Zhou et al. Int J Legal Med. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

Introduction: The etiology of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remains an unsolved problem. The aim of this meta-analysis is to investigate the potential association between monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) promoter variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism and SIDS risk.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted on studies from accessible electronic databases. Each VNTR variant was examined in each gender independently by comparing with the pooled results of other alleles.

Results: A total of six independent case-control studies including 1022 SIDS cases and 1839 controls were enrolled in this meta-analysis. In both of the whole populations and Caucasian populations, male infants with the low-MAOA-expression alleles (2R+3R) were found to exhibit a statistically significant increased risk of SIDS, whereas those with a 4R allele exhibited a reduced risk of SIDS. Besides, an increased risk of SIDS was detected in male Caucasian infants with 2R or 3R alleles. However, none of the allele or genotype variants was associated with SIDS in female victims.

Conclusion: In male Caucasian infants, the low expression of MAOA promoter VNTR alleles (2R and 3R) is associated with an increased risk of SIDS, and the existence of the 4R allele could be regarded as a protective factor.

Keywords: Gene polymorphism; MAOA; Meta-analysis; Serotonin; Sudden infant death syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of the literature search process
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Risk of bias graph. A: Review authors’ judgments about each risk of bias item for each included study; B: review authors’ judgments about each risk of bias item presented as percentages across all included studies
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Publication bias analysis by funnel plots. A: male populations; B: female populations. SE, standard error; OR, odds ratio
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Forest plots of comparisons regarding allele variants in male infants. A: low-MAOA-expression alleles vs. high-MAOA-expression alleles in male infants; B: 4R allele vs. other alleles in male infants
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Forest plots of comparisons regarding allele variants in male Cacasian infants. A: low-MAOA-expression alleles vs. high-MAOA-expression alleles in male Caucasian populations; B: 4R allele vs. other alleles in male Caucasian populations
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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