Sudden death in infants sleeping on polystyrene-filled cushions

Article Abstract:

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and suffocation are generally indistinguishable at autopsy. It is assumed that healthy infants will not suffocate on normal bedding, that they can turn their heads to get air, and that they will only suffocate when their heads are restrained, the airway is blocked, or their faces are covered with an impermeable material. In one-quarter of cases of SIDS, infants are found in a face-down position, but this is considered coincidental. Researchers studied the deaths of 25 infants, all of which occurred while the children were lying on their abdomens on cushions filled with polystyrene beads. In 88 percent of the cases, the infants were in a face-down position with the nose and mouth blocked by the cushion. All the babies who died on these cushions were 14 weeks or younger. At this stage they would be able to hold their heads up for short periods, but rebreathing (breathing the same air repeatedly) poorly oxygenated air would continue, and turning their heads would only deepen the pocket in the cushion. Experiments to further assess this principle were conducted using an animal model (rabbits). The findings indicate that accidental suffocation by rebreathing was the probable cause of death of most of the 25 infants. The authors suggest that it may be necessary to review the cause of death in 28 to 52 percent of infants who were presumed to have died from SIDS. Safety criteria for infant bedding are inadequate, and these cushions do not violate any United States safety standard; in addition, they easily pass the British standards for bead-filled cushions. In spite of the Consumer Product Safety Commission's call for a ban on polystyrene bead-filled cushions for infants, these cushions can still be manufactured. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Reports, Patient outcomes, Mortality, Infant mortality, Asphyxia, Cushions, United States. Consumer Product Safety Commission

---

A sleep position-dependent mechanism for infant death on sheepskins

Article Abstract:

The rebreathing of exhaled air is probably the mechanism that led to the high incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in Otago, New Zealand, where the common practice is to put infants to bed lying on their stomachs on sheepskin bedding. Three out of four rabbits experimentally manipulated to simulate an infant sleeping face down on sheepskin bedding died after less than four hours. The fourth rabbit survived but had evidence of impairment in blood gas exchange. Levels of carbon dioxide in the blood increased and oxygen levels decreased significantly, giving support to the hypothesis that asphyxiation caused or contributed to death. Sheepskin seems to have certain characteristics that exacerbate the rebreathing of carbon dioxide, among these are its ability to form pockets that can trap carbon dioxide around an infant's face.

Risk factors, Sleep positions

---

Sudden infant death with external airways covered: case-comparison study of 206 deaths in the United States

Article Abstract:

Soft bedding such as pillows and comforters should not be placed near sleeping infants. Researchers investigated the deaths of 206 infants from sudden infant death syndrome. Fifty-nine were found dead with their nose and mouth covered. These infants were five times as likely to be on soft bedding and three times as likely to be laying on their stomach as the 147 infants who died with their nose and mouth uncovered. Nine of the infants had been put in their crib on their back or side, but they had rolled over onto their stomach and suffocated.

Sleep, Pillows, Comforters

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Treatment-dependent and treatment-independent pregnancy among women with periadnexal adhesions. Excision of ovarian dermoid cyst by laparoscopy and by laparotomy
• Abstracts: Incidence of neuropathy in 395 patients with ovarian cancer treated with or without cisplatin. Cisplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy: frequent off-therapy deterioration, demyelinating syndromes, and muscle cramps
• Abstracts: Children in and of the streets: health, social policy and the homeless young. Health and social conditions of street children in Honduras
• Abstracts: Isoniazid as preventive therapy in HIV-infected intravenous drug abusers: a decision analysis. Tuberculosis outbreak among HIV-infected persons
• Abstracts: Analysis and interpretation of treatment effects in subgroups of patients in randomized clinical trials. Overview of randomized trials of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on mortality and morbidity in patients with heart failure

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.