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Overall SIDS rates on decline, but African-American population sees smallest decrease

Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa., have found that overall United States Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) rates have dropped since the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) first recommended that babies be put to sleep on their backs in 1992, and continued to decline after the inception of the National Institute of Health's "Back to Sleep" campaign in 1994. These recommendations resulted from the discovery that babies sleeping on their stomachs are more likely to die from SIDS. While overall SIDS rates are in decline, researchers found that the African-American population has seen the smallest decrease. These findings were presented during the annual Society for Pediatric Research meeting in Washington, D.C., on May 5.

The study, led by Eric Gibson, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, Jefferson Medical College, focused on SIDS and postneonatal mortality rates collected from the state Departments of Health of the 27 most populous states for 1987 to 1995. These states represented an average of 75 percent of all yearly births in the United States.

"By analyzing the collected data, we recognized a 31 percent decline in the overall SIDS rate since the 1992 AAP sleep position recommendation and a 15 percent decline since the Back to Sleep campaign began," explained Dr. Gibson.

When the researchers compared SIDS rates by race, they found that the decline in SIDS has been steeper among Caucasians, Asians and Hispanics than African-Americans. SIDS rates dropped in the Caucasian population by 36 percent, combined Asian and Hispanic populations by 42 percent, but only by 16 percent in the African-American population.

"At this point we are unsure why the African-American population has seen the smallest decline in SIDS rates," said Dr. Gibson. "There is evidence that the rate of babies sleeping on their backs may be lower among African-Americans, but further research needs to be conducted to determine why this is so."