Study To Focus on SIDS Prevention

By ERIN McCLAM
.c The Associated Press


ATLANTA (AP) - New mothers who don't breast-feed and those who smoke after 
giving birth place their babies at strong risk for Sudden Infant Death 
Syndrome, government researchers said Monday. 

Placing babies on their backs for sleep has long been the focus of the 
campaign to prevent SIDS, which kills about 3,000 infants each year. 

But a study presented at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
conference in Atlanta suggests that breast-feeding and protecting babies from 
secondhand smoke may be just as important. 

The study of 117 SIDS cases in Louisiana in 1997 and 1998 found 55 percent of 
the deaths could have been prevented had the mothers breast-fed their 
children. Studies have shown breast-feeding can help prevent respiratory 
problems sometimes related to SIDS. 

The study also said 27 percent of the deaths could have been prevented if 
mothers had not smoked after delivery, exposing their children to secondhand 
smoke. 

The link between sleeping position and SIDS was low enough in the study to be 
deemed statistically insignificant, the authors said. 

SIDS - the name coined for unexpected deaths of seemingly healthy babies - 
kills more infants each year than cancer, heart disease, pneumonia and AIDS 
combined. Its precise cause has puzzled scientists for decades. 

SIDS deaths have dropped by about 40 percent since 1994, when the American 
Academy of Pediatrics launched a ``Back to Sleep'' campaign to encourage 
parents not to place infants on their stomachs at bedtime. 

But the SIDS death rate appeared to begin leveling off in the late 1990s. 

``The `Back to Sleep' campaign may have been effective ... but increasing 
`Back to Sleep' will not eliminate SIDS,'' said John Painter, a CDC 
epidemiologist who led the study. 

Judy Jacobson, executive vice president of the SIDS Alliance, said placing 
infants on their backs remains the best way to prevent SIDS. 

``There are still large pockets of the population in the United States that 
do not know about this recommendation - or if they do, have decided not to 
follow it,'' Jacobson said. 

Critics at the conference pointed out that the study excluded the possible 
link between deaths and the firmness of a child's bedding. The bedding data 
was thrown out because it was unreliable, Painter said. 

On the Net: 

Conference page: http://www.cdc.gov/eis 

SIDS Alliance: http://www.sidsalliance.org 

AP-NY-04-23-01 1515EDT

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news 
report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed 
without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.  All active 
hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 

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