The 'new' risk factors for SIDS: is there an association with the ethnic and place of birth differences in incidence in Victoria, Australia?
Home interviews and assessments of infant development were carried out in a project examining the family environments of four groups of women and their infants with different risks of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): a reference group of 200 Australian-born (Anglo-Celtic) women (SIDS incidence, 2.04/1000), 101 women born in Asia (0.97/1000) and 56 women born in Southern Europe (0.58/1000) whose infants have a very low risk of SIDS and 102 women who chose to give birth at home whose infants have a high risk of SIDS (8.9/1000). As these differences are not explained by the classic social and perinatal risk factors, it was possible that they might be attributable to the 'new' risk factors: prone sleeping position, not fully breast feeding, exposure to cigarette smoke and bed sharing. Analysis of the data did not show this expected association: there were no significant differences between the groups in the use of the prone position; although only two Asian-born women smoked, infant exposure to cigarette smoke was similar in the other three groups; choice of infant feeding method did not fit the expected pattern--homebirth infants were fully breast fed almost exclusively while this was so for only about 50% of infants in both low risk groups; more than 50% of homebirth families slept with their infants, but bed sharing was also significantly more common in the Asian-born group than in the reference group.
Potter
A
A
Centre for the Study of Mothers' and Children's Health, La Trobe University, Carlton, Victoria, Australia.
Lumley
J
J
Watson
L
L
D001208:Asia / Q000208:ethnology; D001315:Australia; D001513:Beds; D001724:Birth Weight; D001942:Breast Feeding; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006700:Home Childbirth; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011187:Posture; D011247:Pregnancy; D016684:Prone Position; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012890:Sleep; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology*; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution