Sleep position in Israeli Jewish infants following the "back to sleep" campaign.
BACKGROUND
Prone sleeping has been recognized as a risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome. Ten years ago, non-prone sleeping was recommended in many countries around the world including Israel. The rate of infants sleeping prone and the rate of parents' adherence with the recommendations have not been studied.


OBJECTIVE
To study infants' sleep position and parents' adherence to recommendations, and to identify risk factors for prone sleeping following the campaign to prevent prone sleeping in the Israeli population.


METHODS
We conducted a longitudinal telephone survey with the parents of 608 randomly selected 2 month old infants, repeated at 4 and 6 months.


RESULTS
Non-prone sleeping decreased from 75% to 67% and 63% at 2, 4 and 6 months respectively. There was a significant relationship between prone positioning and the use of a home apnea monitor at 2 months (P = 0.038, odds ratio 1.37, 95% confidence interval 0.94-2.15). Other risk factors for prone sleeping were the level of religious practice, with ultra-Orthodox Jews having the highest prevalence (2 months: OR 2.78, 95% CI 1.75-4.55) and higher parity - especially in families with more than five children (P = 0.041).


CONCLUSIONS
The prone sleeping position is relatively high in Israel. Groups at high risk were closely associated with the level of religiousness and parity. Efforts to promote supine sleeping should be directed towards identifiable groups.
Tauman
Riva
R
Institute of Pediatric Pulmonology and Critical Care, Pediatric Sleep Center, Dana Children's Hospital, Sourasky Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Reisner
Solomon H
SH
Amitai
Yona
Y
Wasser
Janice
J
Nehama
Haim
H
Sivan
Yakov
Y
D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007557:Israel; D007599:Judaism; D008297:Male; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016684:Prone Position; D012307:Risk Factors; D012890:Sleep; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000517:prevention & control; D016683:Supine Position