ATLANTA, Georgia – A recent study conducted by researchers at the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion revealed that most cases of sudden unexplained infant death (SUID) have multiple unsafe sleep factors present, regardless of the sleep location. Out of 7,595 cases of SUID, 59.5% involved sleep surface sharing when the infants died, and at least 76% had multiple unsafe sleep factors present.
The study found that infants who were sharing a sleep surface had a larger number of other unsafe sleep factors, and nearly one-third had all three unsafe sleep factors present, as compared to non-sharing infants. These findings emphasize the importance of safe sleep practices and call for clinicians to shape their conversations around safe sleep guidance, understanding the motivations for surface sharing, and the impact of modeling behavior and giving advice to encourage safe sleep practices.
Furthermore, the study revealed that sharing infants were more commonly ages 0 to 3 months, with this age group accounting for the largest proportion of sharing and non-sharing infants. They were also most commonly non-Hispanic Black and publicly insured. Additionally, the study highlighted that exposure to prenatal maternal cigarette smoking and having a supervisor who was impaired by drugs or alcohol were more common among sharing infants.
In a separate policy statement, another group of researchers noted that approximately 3,600 infants die suddenly, “usually during sleep” each year in the United States. Among their recommendations was the advocacy for a national surveillance system to be advocated for other deaths, including SUID and sudden death in the young. The researchers emphasized the importance of childhood fatality review teams in providing feedback to identify systemic issues that could be improved to prevent future child deaths.
The research team used data from the CDC’s SUID Case Registry, but noted limitations in the study, including the reliance on witness reports of an often chaotic scene during death investigations. They also mentioned that the study population was limited to 23 states and jurisdictions, and the inability to determine risk due to the registry only including infant deaths.
Overall, this study sheds light on the various unsafe sleep factors present in cases of sudden unexplained infant death and underscores the importance of safe sleep practices and further research to prevent future tragedies.