A reexamination of the risk factors for the sudden infant death syndrome☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
METHODS
The 1988 NMIHS was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics to study factors related to poor pregnancy outcomes.10 Data were abstracted from birth and death certificates of selected infants. Additionally, mothers of these children completed a questionnaire of approximately 200 items regarding health practices, prenatal care, perinatal events, and subsequent health of their babies, together with demographic information. After stratification by race and birth weight infants in the
RESULTS
Data on 15,285 infants in the NMIHS were reviewed. Eighty-eight infants in the live births cohort were also in the infant death group, the cause of death of five infants was missing, eight children had missing gestational ages, and 12 neonates had birth weights and gestational ages that were implausible (birth weight <1000 gm in an infant with gestational age of 46 weeks, or gestational ages <27 weeks with birth weights >2700 gm). Information on all these children was excluded. Additionally,
DISCUSSION
There is a perception that the majority of SIDS deaths are the result of prenatal or perinatal events, or are caused by problems associated with social disadvantage. Programs have been initiated to identify neonates at high risk and, by modifying these risk factors, to attempt to prevent SIDS.11, 12 However, data from a nationally representative sample demonstrate that, with the exception of maternal smoking during pregnancy, these risk factors are not specific for SIDS but characterize all
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Cited by (77)
National, regional, and global prevalence of smoking during pregnancy in the general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis
2018, The Lancet Global HealthCitation Excerpt :Smoking tobacco during pregnancy is associated with a number of pregnancy complications such as ectopic pregnancy, placental abruption, placenta praevia, pre-eclampsia, and a range of poor fetal outcomes such as fetal mortality, stillbirth, and tobacco-induced abortions.1–6 Preterm birth, low birthweight, and sudden infant death syndrome are also linked to smoking during pregnancy, with established causality.1,2,7,8 Evidence also suggests an association between smoking during pregnancy and major birth malformations such as oral clefts, craniosynostosis, gastroschisis,1,9,10 and intellectual impairment later in life.1,11,12
Alcohol use, smoking and their co-occurrence during pregnancy among Canadian women, 2003 to 2011/12
2015, Addictive BehaviorsCitation Excerpt :Cigarette smoking1 during pregnancy has been linked to numerous adverse health consequences for both the developing fetus and mother, including tobacco-induced abortions (DiFranza & Lew, 1995), stillbirth (Salihu & Wilson, 2007), placental abruption (Tikkanen, Nuutila, Hiilesmaa, Paavonen, & Ylikorkala, 2006), fetal mortality (Kleinman, Pierre, Madans, Land, & Schramm, 1988), preterm birth (Kyrklund-Blomberg, Granath, & Cnattingius, 2005), as well as infant and child mortality and morbidity (DiFranza & Lew, 1995). Further, preterm birth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome are conditions attributable to smoking during pregnancy, with established causality (DiFranza & Lew, 1995; Ko et al., 2014; Taylor & Sanderson, 1995). A few studies in Canada have estimated the prevalence of smoking among pregnant women at the national level.
Prevention of sudden infant death syndrome
2012, Anales de Pediatria ContinuadaDifferential sensitivity of male germ cells to mainstream and sidestream tobacco smoke in the mouse
2009, Toxicology and Applied PharmacologyPreterm Delivery and Age of SIDS Death
2006, Annals of EpidemiologyCitation Excerpt :The study population consisted of all singleton infants born in the United States from 1996 through 1998 to women who were US residents. Given the known elevated risk for SIDS in multiple-gestation births, we excluded these children from the analyses (11). We excluded infants born to nonresidents because of the poor reliability of death certificates if mothers subsequently left the United States.
Prenatal nicotine exposure alters the nicotinic receptor subtypes that modulate excitation of parasympathetic cardiac neurons in the nucleus ambiguus from primarily α3β2 and/or α6βX to α3β4
2006, NeuropharmacologyCitation Excerpt :Nicotinic modulation of brainstem neurons is not only an essential component of cardiorespiratory interactions, but likely plays a role in autonomic diseases. Prenatal nicotine exposure is among the highest risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) (Meny et al., 1994; Taylor and Sanderson, 1995). Infants that succumb to SIDS often experience a sustained bradycardia, presumably due to increased activity of cardiac vagal neurons, which is preceded or accompanied by a life-threatening apnea (Meny et al., 1994; Cote et al., 1998).
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From the Departments of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle
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Reprint requests: James A. Taylor, MD, Department of Pediatrics (RD-20), University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
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0022-3476/95/$3.00 + 0 9/20/62885