In a major study on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), German researchers believe they may have found several previously unrecognized risk factors for the disease, such as sleeping away from home and sleeping outside of the parent’s bedroom.
Dr. Mechtid M. Vennemann of the University of Munster explained in a recent medical journal article that various studies in the 1980’s and 1990’s revealed that sleeping face down presents a significantly increased risk of SIDS. Following these studies there was a marked decrease of SIDS deaths in numerous countries as scientists and health professionals discouraged parents from allowing their infants to sleep on their stomachs.
Dr. Vennemann and his colleagues in the German SIDS study chose to look for new SIDS risk factors in a population in which relatively few infants sleep face down. The study included 333 infants who had died from SIDS as well as 998 age-matched control infants.
The study revealed a statistically significant increased risk of SIDS among infants who slept outside of their parent’s home, such as at friend’s or relative’s houses. Another portion of the study showed that infants who slept in the living room as opposed to their parent’s bedroom were also at a higher risk of SIDS. Other factors examined included the use of duvets, sleeping face down on sheepskin, bed sharing and infants that did not breastfeed – all of which showed an increased risk of SIDS.
Though only 4.1 percent of the infants studied slept face down, these infants were at a dramatically increased risk of SIDS. Particularly affected were infants who were not accustomed to sleeping on their stomachs and managed to roll themselves over into the face down position.
Researches of the German SIDS study conclude that their findings further reinforce the current recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics that parents put infants to sleep on their backs rather than their stomachs.
Since first being recognized as a distinct disease in the late 1960’s, SIDS has been the subjects of numerous research studies. These studies have led to the identification of a diverse array of risk factors as well as various theories regarding its ultimate causes, none of which have been proven entirely conclusive.
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