Elk Grove Village, IL—(ENEWSPF)—December 3, 2015. Major safety changes in babies’ sleep environment contributed to dramatic reductions in the rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in the United States since 1992. That’s when the American Academy of Pediatrics first recommended against placing babies to sleep in a chest-down position and efforts to reduce suffocation hazards such as soft crib bedding got underway.
But a new study in the January 2016 issue of Pediatrics (published online Wednesday, Dec. 2) says that while making the sleep environment safer was critical to reducing the number of SIDS deaths by 38 percent between 1992 and 1996, other factors were and remain significant. These include a decrease in smoking during pregnancy, which dropped from 16 percent in 1987 to 10 percent in 2011. The authors also cite a rising rate of breastfeeding, which has protective effects, along with increased access to prenatal care and improved steroid medications for respiratory distress in newborns. The study explores a relative plateau in SIDS rates during recent years, possibly because more deaths previously attributed to SIDS are now categorized by forensic investigators as “cause unknown” or “accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed.”
The study authors said it speaks to an inherent vulnerability of infants dying from SIDS and the importance of research to understand and address underlying causes. At the same time, they said, efforts must continue to assure a safe sleep environment and minimize sleep practices that can put a vulnerable infant at higher risk.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 64,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org or follow us at @AmerAcadPeds.
Source: www.aap.org
