'Clear smoking link' to cot death
The Bristol University team said the risk also increased with every hour babies were exposed to passive smoke after birth.
The number of cot deaths has fallen, but those linked to smoking have risen.
The report, to be published in the journal Early Human Development, suggests public smoking bans will make people more likely to smoke at home.
Many other studies have shown a clear link between smoking and cot death, but the Bristol research tries to unravel more precisely the cost of smoking both before and after birth.
Smoking among pregnant women has fallen from 30% to 20% in the last 15 years.
Back sleeping
The experts found that the proportion of babies who went on to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) who were born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy had risen from 57% to 86%.
This, they say, is mostly due to the success of campaigns to lay babies on their backs to sleep, which is credited with preventing hundreds of cot deaths.
The remaining cot deaths are now much more likely to be due to smoking.
The report, from the university's Institute of Child Life and Health, said that fresh messages about the dangers of smoking while pregnant had to be given to women.
Lead author Professor Peter Fleming said: "What we have been trying to do is look at the whole impact of exposure, both before and after birth, to smoking and its adverse effects.
"After delivery, the mother can reduce the risk by protecting her baby and not smoking near it."
Hour by hour
He found that for every hour a newborn was exposed to tobacco smoke, the risk increased.
"We found a perfectly linear relationship," said Professor Fleming.
"The risk of death increased with each individual hour the baby was exposed to smoke.
"For example a baby exposed to smoke eight hours a day was eight times more likely to die from SIDS than a baby that was never exposed. These are startling statistics."
He said that although the recent introduction of smoking bans in public buildings led to a "potential increase" in smoking at home, the findings might send an "encouraging" message.
"What it is saying to parents as a positive message is 'even if you can't give up smoking, don't smoke around the baby'."
Professor George Haycock, from the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths said: "The figures show that maternal smoking is now the most important avoidable risk factor for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
"If no women smoked in pregnancy, about 60% of cot deaths could be avoided. This means that in the UK the number of deaths could fall from around 300 a year to 120 a year."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7045230.stm
Published: 2007/10/15 12:18:11 GMT
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2 comments:
Interesting blog. I'm just passing through while doing research on SIDS. It seems like the Back to Sleep Campaign to prevent SIDS is primarily responsible for the increase in plagiocephaly. It prevents SIDS because Back Sleep does not allow an infant to get Deep Sleep (Stage 3/4 NREM sleep) which is when Babies primarily die of SIDS. Stage 3/4 NREM sleep is also when much of a babies plasticity and memory consolidation happens.
But, beyond plagiocephaly infants who sleep supine compared to infants who sleep in the prone position also have increased rates of:
- Social skills delays at 6 months (Dewey, Fleming, et al, 1998)
- Motor skills delays at 6 months (Dewey, Fleming, et al, 1998)
- gastroesophageal reflux (GER) (Corvaglia, 2007)
- Milestone delays (Davis, Moon, et al., 1998)
My question is: If a doctor was presented with a baby that had social skills delays, motor skills delays, and gastroesophageal reflux what would a doctor say if a child had these three things but not too bad. The doctor might tell the parent to be patient and that different kids develop differently. But, what if the case was more severe - what if the kids social skills were wors? The doctor might diagnose him with ADHD. But, what if the kids delays were really far behind - that is the kid had very large delays in social skills and motor skills? The doctor might diagnose him with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I think part (if not all) of the Autism Epidemic is caused by the SIDS Back to Sleep campaign. This is totally unrelated to plagiocephaly only that plagiocephaly could be used as a marker for how well the parents followed the SIDS Back to Sleep advice. My guess is that for every 30 boys who slept in the supine position and have plagiocephaly then 5 will be diagnosed with ADHD and 1 will be diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. My guess is that for every 210 girls put to sleep in the supine position that 5 will eventually be diagnosed with ADHD and 1 will be diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This is just my theory.
Your research seems very interesting and I must say necessary to guide parents in situations where they just don´t know what is best. I know that there is a well known specialist in Argentina which has written about the topic. I´ll find out his name and see if that is of use. Good luck.
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