|
|
|
|
HYATTSVILLE, MARYLAND. An American-Swedish medical research team has just
released a study which shows a clear correlation between maternal cigarette
smoking and the risk of the baby dying from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
during its first year of life. The team reviewed the records for over seven
million live births in the United States and Sweden and found almost 8700 cases
of SIDS. The death rate from SIDS varied from 0.8 per 1000 births among
Hispanic and Asian babies to 3.0 per 1000 births among American Indian babies.
The rate in Sweden was 0.9 and in the United States it was 1.1 among non-Hispanic white babies. There was a clear correlation between the mother's
smoking status and the risk of SIDS. The risk of SIDS among babies whose
mothers had smoked one to nine cigarettes per day during pregnancy was from 60
to 150 per cent higher than for babies born to non-smoking women. The risk for
babies born to heavy smokers (10 or more cigarettes per day) was 130 to 280 per
cent greater. The increased risk attributable to the mother's smoking was
independent of other established risk factors for SIDS (low maternal age, low
birth weight, more than one child already born to the mother, and prone [face
downwards] sleeping position of the baby). The researchers conclude that
maternal smoking during pregnancy is an important and entirely preventable risk
factor for SIDS, but they do not rule out that postnatal exposure to secondhand
smoke could be a contributing factor as well.
|
|
|
|
