Loading...
The incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has fallen by 75% in the U.K. since the 1991 “Back to Sleep” campaign was launched. Recent studies have suggested that, with fewer infants sleeping in the prone position, other risk factors for SIDS have taken on greater importance. In this population-based study, researchers investigated the circumstances of all unexpected deaths of infants younger than 1 year in Avon from 1984 through 2003.
Of 369 infant deaths, 300 were classified as SIDS. Between the first and last 5 years of the study, the proportion of SIDS infants who slept prone decreased from 89% to 24%. Significantly more SIDS deaths occurred in 1999–2003 than in 1984–1988 among families of lower socioeconomic class (74% vs. 47%)…