This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hunt, L.
Right arrow Articles by the ALSPAC Study Team,
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hunt, L.
Right arrow Articles by the ALSPAC Study Team,
Related Collections
Right arrow Premature & Newborn

PEDIATRICS Vol. 100 No. 1 July 1997, p. e11
Copyright ©1997 by the American Academy of Pediatrics

ELECTRONIC ARTICLE:
Does the Supine Sleeping Position Have Any Adverse Effects on the Child?: I. Health in the First Six Months

Received Jun 5, 1996; accepted Nov 4, 1996.

Linda Hunt, Peter Fleming, Jean Golding, and the ALSPAC Study Team

From the Institute of Child Health, University of Bristol, Bristol, England.

Objective.  To assess whether the recommendations that infants sleep supine could have adverse health consequences.

Design.  A prospective study of infants, delivered before, during, and after the Back to Sleep Campaign in the United Kingdom (UK), followed to 6 months of age. The children were part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ALSPAC).

Subjects.  Singletons born to mothers resident in the three former Bristol-based health districts of Avon in the period June 1991 to December 1992, and for whom questionnaires were completed on sleeping position at 4 to 6 weeks of age (n = 9777); for these infants 8524 questionnaires were also completed at 6 to 8 months of age.

Main Outcome Measures.  Subjective measures of health, the presence of specific signs and symptoms, duration of sleep at night, and calling the family doctor to the home.

Results.  Of 43 outcomes considered, after adjustment for 12 factors using logistic regression only 2 were associated with raised risk among infants put to sleep on their back (diaper rash and cradle cap). Infants put to sleep prone had increased risk of a number of health outcomes, including cough and possibly pyrexia.

Conclusions.  There is no evidence that putting infants to sleep in the supine position results in increased morbidity, although changes in prevalence of rare disorders would not have been identified.

Key words: sleeping position, infant morbidity, health.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Arch. Dis. Child.Home page
E A S Nelson, A Serra, S Cowan, V Mangiaterra, and the MAS Study Group for WHO EURO region
Maternity advice survey: sleeping position in Eastern Europe
Arch. Dis. Child., October 1, 2000; 83(4): 304 - 306.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]