We read the report by Bass et al with great interest; they state that the percentage of sudden unexpected infant deaths attributed to unsafe sleep conditions has increased significantly, with 29.2% of the cases occurring within the first 6 days of life.1 The percentage of neonatal cases attributed to mechanical suffocation bed or cradle/accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed increased 11-fold, from 2.1% in 1995 to 22.7% in 2014. This period corresponds to a rapid rise in the use of smartphones and social media; therefore, we theorize that maternal distraction from smartphone use may be contributing substantially to the rise in sudden unexpected postnatal collapse (SUPC) cases worldwide.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0022-3476 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.04.031 ID - ref1 ER -