POSTNATAL-GROWTH PRECEDING SUDDEN-INFANT-DEATH-SYNDROME

Objective. To compare postnatal growth preceding the sudden infant dea th syndrome (SIDS) with that of age matched controls. Design. Retrospe ctive case-control study. Each SIDS victim was matched with two contro ls on date of parental interview postnatal age, and neighborhood. Clin ical and demographic data were collected by parental interview and by review of medical records, and interval body weights were obtained fro m health visitors' records. Study population. All infants dying of SID S between 1 May, 1987 and 30 April, 1989 in a geographically defined r egion consisting of four health districts in Avon and North Somerset i n southwest England. Seventy-eight of the 99 SIDS victims and 139 of 1 56 control infants were included in the final analysis. Results. There was no significant difference between SIDS victims and the controls i n either of the two indices of postnatal growth which were analyzed. T he mean growth rates (a I SEM) between birth and the last live weight (age equivalent weight for control infants) were 27.1 +/- 1.0 g/day fo r the SIDS cases and 28.3 +/- 1.5 g/day for the control infants. The m ean growth rate (a 1 SEM) between the last two live weights were 31.5 +/- 2.9 and 24.9 +/- 2.1 g/day for the SIDS and control infants, respe ctively. Stratification of the infants by sex, gestational age, matern al smoking during pregnancy, breast versus bottle feeding, or age at d eath, did not result in any significant differences between SIDS and c ontrols in either of the indices of postnatal growth rate. The 20 SIDS cases which were excluded from the final analysis did not differ from 78 whose data was analyzed, with regard to established SIDS risk fact ors, age at death, or postmortem weight. Conclusions. No difference wa s found between the postnatal growth of SIDS victims and that of age m atched control infants.