_http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/530804_print_ 
(http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/530804_print) 
 
Pardon for any cross postings..
 
Judy 
 
 
Bed-Sharing Increases the Risk of SIDS in Vulnerable  Infants


By Megan Rauscher
 
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 26 - Infant-parent bed-sharing can potentiate  
other risk factors to increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome 
(SIDS),  particularly in vulnerable infants, results of a case-control study 
suggest. 
"Internationally, the factors which are most consistently associated with  
increasing an infant's risk of SIDS are prone sleeping and maternal smoking,"  
Dr. Cliona McGarvey, from the National SIDS Register and Children's University  
Hospital, Dublin noted in comments to Reuters Health. 
"However, recent evidence has indicated that even when parents are non  
smokers, bed-sharing increases the risk of SIDS for infants less than 11 weeks  of 
age," she said. 
Dr. McGarvey's group examined 287 cases of SIDS, which occurred in Ireland  
between 1994 and 2001 and found that 49% of cases occurred when the infant was  
bed-sharing with an adult, in comparison with only 12% of healthy matched  
control infants. They calculate that bed-sharing increases the risk of SIDS  
nearly four times. 
Moreover, roughly half of the SIDS babies who were bed-sharing on the night  
they died were unaccustomed to this type of sleep arrangement. 
The majority of infants who died while bed-sharing (87%) had mothers who  
smoked, confirming that maternal smoking is a strong risk factor for SIDS. SIDS  
cases that were bed-sharing were also less likely to be found in the prone  
position. 
"In addition, the evidence from this study indicates that it may also be  
unsafe to bed-share with younger infants, particularly if they are born with low  
birth weight for gestation," Dr. McGarvey noted. "These babies may be more  
vulnerable and less capable of dealing with potential stressors associated with 
 bed-sharing," the authors offer in their report. 
Thermal stress is a known risk factor for SIDS, and in this study, there was  
evidence that infants who shared a bed with an adult had higher thermal  
insulation than non-bed-sharers. 
These data, the authors conclude, reinforce that factors associated with  
bed-sharing increase the risk of SIDS for infants at risk. "While it has not  
been demonstrated that bed-sharing is a risk factor in itself, clearly it  
interacts with other risk factors to increase the associated risks even  further," 
they conclude. 
Arch Dis Child 2006;91:318-323. 

Judy LeVan  Fram, PT, IBCLC, LLLL, Brooklyn, NY,  USA



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