There is a case-control SIDS/pacifier study from Kaiser Permanente out on
BMJ Online First, which despite its serious limitations, one of which is the
woefully lacking information about the breastfeeding status of the babies
involved, is being touted in the mass media (The Guardian, and at least one
Norwegian news website) as proof that pacifiers save lives.
In the Norwegian text the journalist who reported it has even said that the
SIDS rate would be one in twenty thousand if all babies used pacifiers.  I
can't figure out where she got those figures from as they don't appear in
the article as far as I can tell.  The headline is 'Pacifiers save lives'.
I don't know anything about the website involved

I've written to the corresponding author of the study to ask about their
breastfeeding definitions, and to tell her how the results are being
disseminated here.  If I get a response I will share it with the list.

From the table in the article, it appears that babies may have been
classified as breastfeeding if they had ever breastfed.  But I have
requested clarification on this point as it is hard to tell from the
article.

On the BMJ rapid response section, the journal is being criticized for the
misleading way in which the findings were presented on the website.  In
short, a case-control study is unsuited for prediction of risk. 
I could read the entire article on line here:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/rapidpdf/bmj.38671.640475.55v1.pdf

The title of the article is 'Use of a dummy(pacifier) during sleep and risk
of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): population based case-control study'
and the authors are De-Kun Li, Marian Willinger, Diana B Pettiti, Roxana
Odouli, Liyan Liu, and Howard J Hoffman.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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