A new study in the journal Pediatrics reveals that infant mortality rates caused by accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed (ASSB) have quadrupled in the past 2 decades.

 

ASSB “was defined as a combination of all deaths attributed to accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and unknown causes.”

 

The study was carried by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They analyzed United States infant mortality data from 1984 through 2004 and found that rates of ASSB had increased from 2.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1984 to 12.5 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004. A certain reason for this increase was not found. Also, the study found that while suffocation deaths have gone up, SIDS (Sudden infant death syndrome) cases have gone down.

 

“There's been a huge increase in the reports of these deaths. The message for the public is that accidental suffocation and strangulation is potentially preventable by providing babies with a safe sleep environment,” said Carrie K. Shapiro-Mendoza of the CDC, who led the study.

 

She further encouraged parents to avoid sleeping in the same bed with their baby. Furthermore, infants should have a firm mattress and be placed on their backs with no blankets, pillows, stuffed animals or other objects that could cause suffocation.

 

We should do everything to prevent finding a dead infant in the morning, said John Kattwinkel of the University of Virginia. He chaired an American Academy of Pediatrics panel that recommended against bed-sharing in 2005.