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Original article
SIDS, illness, and acute medical care
  1. R P K Forda,
  2. E A Mitchellb,
  3. A W Stewartc,
  4. R Scraggd,
  5. B J Taylore,
  6. other members of the New Zealand Cot Death Study Group†
  1. aCommunity Paediatrics, Christchurch, New Zealand, bUniversity of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand: Department of Paediatrics, cDepartment of Biostatistics, dDepartment of Epidemiology, eDepartment of Paediatrics, University of Otago, Otago, New Zealand
  1. Dr E A Mitchell, Department of Paediatrics, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.

Abstract

One component of the Back to Sleep campaign to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the recommendation that parents seek medical attention if their infant is unwell. The aim of this study was to investigate if SIDS could in part be explained by sick infants not getting appropriate medical care. Data on symptoms of illness and on acute medical contacts made for infants dying from SIDS (n = 390) within two weeks of their death were compared with those from a randomly selected group of control infants (n = 1592). SIDS cases had more severe illness than controls (odds ratio (OR) = 3.43; 95% confidence interval (CI)= 1.69 to 5.38), and were more likely to have seen a general practitioner (OR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.09 to 1.73) or attended hospital (OR = 3.43, 95% CI = 1.09 to 1.73). Only 1.3% of all SIDS cases had symptoms suggesting severe illness and had not seen a general practitioner. A lack of medical contacts in the two weeks before death does not contribute to the risk of SIDS.

  • SIDS
  • case-control study
  • illness
  • medical contact

https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.77.1.54

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    Footnotes

    • ↵† D M O Becroft, E Allen, D Barry, A Roberts, I B Hassall, S Williams, J M D Thompson.