SIDS linked to nitrogen dioxide pollution

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – High outdoor levels of nitrogen
dioxide apparently raise the risk of sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS), according to California-based researchers.

Dr. H. Klonoff-Cohen, from the University of California San
Diego at La Jolla, and colleagues linked air pollutant data
obtained from the California Air Resources Board with
occurrences of SIDS.

The study, in the Archives of Disease in Childhood,
involved 169 infants born between 1988 and 1992 who died
suddenly and 169 matched “controls” who were born during the
same period.

The incidence of SIDS cases went up and down with average
carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide levels, but only the
latter was significant from a statistical standpoint.

High levels of nitrogen dioxide more than doubled the risk
of SIDS, even after accounting for tobacco smoke exposure.

This is the first study to implicate high outdoor levels of
nitrogen dioxide as a risk factor for SIDS, the researchers
comment. However, they add that it did not allow for seasonal
variation of respiratory infections, which should be included
in future investigations. SOURCE: Archives of Disease in
Childhood, July 2005.