Health departments do it better: prenatal care site and prone infant sleep position.
OBJECTIVE
Reduction of prone infant sleep position has been the main public health effort to reduce the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).


METHODS
Oregon Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) surveys a stratified random sample of women after a live birth. In 1998-1999, 1867 women completed the survey (64.0% unweighted response; 73.5% weighted response).


RESULTS
Overall, 9.2% of all women "usually" chose prone infant sleep position, while 24.2% chose side and 66.5% chose supine position. Women receiving care from private physicians or HMOs more often chose prone position (10.6%) than women receiving prenatal care from health department clinics (2.5%), hospital clinics (6.1%) or other sites (8.3%). Compared to health department prenatal clinic patients, private prenatal patients were more likely to choose prone infant sleep position, adjusted odds ratio = 4.78 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.64-13.92).


CONCLUSIONS
Health Department clinics have done a better job than private physicians in educating mothers about putting infants to sleep on their backs. Providers-especially private providers-should continue to stress the importance of supine sleep position for infants.
Lahr
Martin B
MB
Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR 97201, USA. lahr_mdmph@web-ster.com
Rosenberg
Kenneth D
KD
Lapidus
Jodi A
JA
D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011295:Prenatal Care; D016684:Prone Position; D015980:Public Health Practice; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012890:Sleep; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology