Fan In Baby's Room May Help Prevent SIDS
Study Suggests Fan Use Cuts SIDS Risk in Babies
Author: Jennifer Corbett Dooren
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Using a fan while a baby is sleeping appears to significantly cut the risk of
Sudden Infant DeathSyndrome, or SIDS, according to new research.
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Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.,
compared 185 babies who died from SIDS in 11 California counties between May
1, 1997 and April 30, 2000, with 312 normal infants from similar socioeconomic
and ethnic backgrounds living in the same counties. Mothers were asked several
questions about fan use, pacifier use, room location, sleep surface, the type
of covers over the baby, bedding under the infant, room temperature and whether
a window was open.
The study, which is being published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent
Medicine, found that using a fan cut the risk of SIDS by 72%. The use of a fan
in aroom with a temperature higher than 69 degrees Fahrenheit was associated
with a 94% decreased risk of SIDS compared with no fan use.
SIDS, or a sudden and unexplained death of a baby younger than one year old,
kills about 2,500 infants annually and is the leading cause of death in that
age group. While the cause of SIDS is unknown, one theory is that babies re-breathe
exhaled carbon dioxide trapped near their airways from bedding or sleeping on
their stomachs.
Since the mid-1990s it's been recommended that infants be placed on their backs
to sleep rather than their stomachs. That recommendation, along with others such
as sleeping on a firm mattress and avoiding soft bedding, was linked to a more
than 50% decline in SIDS deaths from 1992 to 2003.
The lead researcher in the latest study, De-Kun Li, explained that fan use increases
air movement in a baby's bedroom that could protect babies from re-breathing
carbon dioxide.
" If parents want to take an extra measure, they should consider using a
fan," he said. Dr. Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist, stressed
that using a fan isn't a substitute for placing babies on their backs to sleep.
Marian Willinger, Special Assistant for SIDS Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said the findings on
fan use were interesting but need to be replicated." It cannot be emphasized
strongly enough, however, that there is no substitute for the most effective
means known to reduce the risk of SIDS: always placing infants for sleep on their
backs," Dr. Willinger said in a statement.
Since 2005, it's also been recommended that infants use a pacifier. In 2005,
Dr. Li released research from the same group of women used in the fan study,
showing use of a pacifier cut the risk of SIDS by 90%. That finding helped back
up recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics on adding pacifiers
to the list of recommendations to cut SIDS risks.
The new study also looked at whether windows were open or closed. Babies who
slept with an open window were less likely to die from SIDS compared to babies
who slept with a closed window, but the finding wasn't considered statistically
significant. The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health
and Kaiser Permanente.
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article at the Wall
Street Journal website
Keywords: Nursery, Fan, SIDS, Circulation, Safety, Baby, Infant, Prevention, Research |
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