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Press Releases
CFSID Media Centre provides you with the latest news and research and also publicizes our fundraising and campaign efforts. Please browse through our latest press releases to see what The Canadian Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths is doing.
- New study highlights dangers of secondhand smoke for babies - Feb 27, 2002
In a recently released study (funded in part by the SIDS Foundation), researchers found significantly higher nicotine concentrations in babies who died of SIDS than in non-SIDS babies . . . read more
- How to Care for our Angels: Normal, Healthy Babies Don't Need Monitors - Feb 8, 2002
In the past several years, remarkable progress has been made in lowering the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome . . . read more
- Positional plagiocephaly and sleep positioning: An update to the joint statement on sudden infant death syndrome
In an effort to reduce the number of babies who die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in Canada, a coalition was formed among Health Canada . . . read more
- Monitoring Study finds cardiorespiratory events common in healthy babies as well as those at risk of SIDS
A recent multicentre study has found that events such as apnea (cessation of breathing) and below-normal heart rates are common in healthy term infants as well as those babies at increased risk for SIDS. The study found that extreme events were only common in preterm infants until 43 weeks post-conception age.
In these cases, the study found that commercial monitors (which measure only respiratory movement) would be unable to detect the high frequency of obstruction among this preterm population. This study is important in assisting practitioners and families in the decision to use a monitor.
It appears that infants thought to be at a higher risk of SIDS do not have more cardiorespiratory events than normal infants do - and that these events do not necessarily lead to SIDS. On the other hand, preterm infants with frequent apnea and lower heart rates may benefit from short-term monitoring until they are 43 weeks post-conception age. (JAMA 2001;285:2199-2207)
- British Study Finds Immunization offers Protective Effect Against SIDS
A 3-year study in Great Britain reviewed data on all sudden infant deaths between 1993 and 1996. The study set out to determine whether Britain's accelerated immunization programme, after adjustment for potential confounding factors was associated with SIDS. The results of the study showed that immunization uptake was strongly associated with a lower risk of SIDS. (Fleming, BMJ 2001; 322:822)
- Safe Sleep Products
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has reviewed the safety and effectiveness of several infant mattresses and pads claiming to reduce the risk of SIDS. Baby Air Breathable Mattress by KidSafe, Breath Easy Vented Infant Sleeping Surface by US Family Products, Sleep Guardian Sleeping Pad by Sleep Guardian, and Sleep Safe Mattress Cover by Jupiter Industries have stopped being manufactured and distributed. Please advise our national office if you find any of these products in Canadian stores.
The SIDS Alliance in the US says · we encourage and support the CPSC and other federal regulatory agencies in an ongoing campaign to monitor, evaluate, and pursue appropriate action regarding products marketed in catalogs, in stores, and now over the Internet, that have not been adequately tested and quality-assured for infant safety and survival. These infant products claim unsubstantiated benefits, run counter to current medical understanding, and may ultimately interfere with a baby's ability to be safe and survive. (Lifelines June 2000, SIDS Foundation of Southern California)
- SIDS in Child Care Settings
A new study (Pediatrics 2000; 106) found that 20% of SIDS cases in the US occur in child care settings where caretakers may be less likely to have heard of the importance of putting babies to sleep on their backs. Over 60% of daycare deaths occurred in home daycares, which tend to be unlicensed and run by older women with less access to SIDS risk reduction efforts.
Compared with SIDS deaths in the care of parents, those occurring in child care settings were more likely to occur on weekdays between 8AM and 4 PM, the infants were older; not black; and mothers were more educated. Infants in childcare were more likely to be last placed to sleep on their stomachs or found on their stomachs, when the usual sleep position was side or back. As a result, it is very important that parents be very specific with caregivers about the exact sleep position for their baby.
This study also highlights the need to educate daycare staff, grandparents and babysitters about back-sleeping and other ways to reduce the risk of SIDS.
- Abnormalities in Brain may lead to SIDS
A recent publication has described abnormalities in the ventral medulla of the brain that support an hypothesis that SIDS or a subset of infants with SIDS may die from a failure of homeostatic responses to life threatening challenges during sleep. In the arcuate nucleus of the medulla they describe decreased serotonergic receptor binding in a cohort of 52 SIDS cases, 15 acute controls and 17 chronic cases with oxygenation disorders.
All of these regions with decreased serotonergic binding had developed from the same embryonic origin. The authors suggest that the neurochemical imbalance in this serotonergic network could make an infant vulnerable to sudden death during sleep, as a child passes through a critical developmental period in homeostatic control under conditions of stress, induced by hypoxia (reduced oxygenation), asphyxia or hypercapnia (increased carbon dioxide).
They further speculate, that this mechanism may be helpful in explaining the increased risk for SIDS in the prone sleeping position. The mechanism that underlines the increased risk in this position is unknown, but may involve re-breathing of expired gases, upper airway obstruction, impaired arousal thresholds that hamper efforts to turn the head, compromised upper airway reflexes, hyperthermia due to heat trapping in the face-down position or altered sensory/vestibular influences on blood pressure. (J Neuropathol & Exp Neurol 200;59:377-384)
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