Nearly Half of SIDS Cases Attributable to Sleeping Position

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 15 - Findings from a European study suggest
that about 48% of SIDS cases are attributable to an infant sleeping in a
prone or side position. Sleeping in a room other than the parent's room was
linked to 36% of cases, and 16% were linked to bed sharing.

To better understand the risk factors for SIDS, Dr. R. G. Carpenter, from
the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues
conducted case-control studies in 20 regions in Europe. Data from 745 SIDS
cases and 2411 live controls were included in the analysis.
The researchers' findings are reported in the January 17th issue of The
Lancet.
Consistent with previous reports, sleeping in the prone position or turning
from the side to the prone position were major risk factors for SIDS.
Compared with infants who slept in other positions, those that slept prone
or turned from the side to the prone position were 13.1- and 45.4-times
more likely, respectively, to experience SIDS.************

Unless the mother smoked, bedsharing had little effect on the risk of SIDS
*******************************************************************

and the association was only significant during the first 8 weeks of life.
In contrast, if the mother smoked, bedsharing raised the risk of SIDS by
13.3-fold during the first weeks of life.
Maternal alcohol use was identified as a significant SIDS risk factor, but
only when the infant shared the bed all night, the researchers report.
"Avoidable risk factors such as those associated with inappropriate
infants' sleeping position, type of bedding used, and sleeping arrangements
strongly suggest a basis for further substantial reductions in SIDS
incidence rates," the investigators conclude.
Lancet 2004;363:185-191

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html