Objectives:

To determine the prevalence of sleep position among a representative sample of newborn infants, the predictors of infant sleep position, and the relation between infant sleep position and the risk of SIDS.

Methods:

Women who have recently delivered a preterm infant surviving to hospital discharge or a healthy term infant will be enrolled by direct personal contact at a number of participating birth hospitals in the Boston, MA and Toledo, OH Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The infant care practices of these women (particularly the position used when placing their children to sleep) will be determined by mail questionnaire when the infants are one, three, and six months of age. Telephone follow-up will be used to supplement the mailed questionnaires, as needed. All-cause mortality and mortality from SIDS in the first year of life among enrolled infants will be determined from public records. These data will be used to describe the prevalence of prone sleep position, its determinants, and changes in sleep position which may occur over time and as children grow through the first six months of life.

Investigators:

Allen A. Mitchell, M.D., Principal Investigator
Samuel M. Lesko, M.D., M.P.H., Co-Investigator
Michael Corwin, M.D. (BU School of Medicine ), Co-Investigator
Theodore Colton, Sc.D. (BU School of Public Health ), Co-Investigator
Carl Hunt, M.D. ( Medical College of Ohio ), Co-Investigator
Sandra Hatfield, Program Coordinator
Megan McCormick, Research Assistant
Sandra Finder, Interviewer

Source of funding:

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Study Period:

October 1994 - September 1999

Publications:

Link to Publications