Citation

Gaw CE, Chounthirath T, Midgett J, Quinlan K, Smith GA. Acad. Pediatr. 2017; 17(8): 893-901.

Affiliation

Center for Injury Research and Policy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205; The Ohio State University, College of Medicine, Columbus, OH; Child Injury Prevention Alliance, Columbus, OH. Electronic address: gary.smith@nationwidechildrens.org.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Academic Pediatric Association, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.acap.2017.07.002

PMID

28723589

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the circumstances of death and types and roles of objects present in the sleep environment at the time of death for infants who died from suffocation or strangulation during sleep.

METHODS: This study analyzed 1,736 reported incidents of accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed (ASSB) of infants younger than one year of age. These fatalities occurred from 2000 through 2012 and were reported to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.

RESULTS: The mean age of ASSB death was 3.76 months (SD: 2.51). Infants younger than five months accounted for 67.3% (1,168/1,736) of all reported fatalities and 58.3% (1,009/1,731) were male. Deceased infants were often found in a crib or bassinet (30.6%; 383/1,253) or in the prone orientation (84.9%; 595/701). The most common objects associated with infant ASSB were pillows (24.5%; 425/1,736), mattresses (21.0%; 364/1,736), blankets (13.1%; 228/1,736), and walls (11.5%; 199/1,736). Wedged (43.3%; 616/1,424) or positioned on top of an object (25.9%; 369/1,424) were the most common positions associated with death. Infants were often found wedged between a mattress and wall (30.2%; 181/599) or oriented face-down or prone on top of a pillow (52.2%; 187/358). Sleep surface sharing was associated with 6.5% (112/1,736) of ASSB deaths.

CONCLUSIONS: Pillows and blankets are objects in sleep environments frequently associated with unintentional suffocation and strangulation of infants. Increased efforts should be made to remove these and other objects from sleep environments of infants.

Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

ASSB; Infant Mortality; SUID; Strangulation; Sudden Unexpected Infant Death; Suffocation