P. Bouvier et al., PRONE SLEEPING POSITION AND OTHER RISK-FA CTORS OF THE SUDDEN-INFANT-DEATH-SYNDROME - A PREVALENCE STUDY IN GENEVA, Sozial- und Praventivmedizin, 42(2), 1997, pp. 121-127
A survey by telephone interviews has been carried out in 1993 in the c
anton of Geneva, in order to measure the prevalence of 3 risk factors
for the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and to evaluate the potent
ial for SIDS prevention based on these factors: prone sleeping positio
n, tobacco smoking by the parents during pregnancy, and no complete br
east-feeding at 8 days of age. 278 families participated to the study,
of 320 families who could be contacted by telephone in Geneva, from a
random sample of 550 families having had a child in Geneva in the pre
ceding 12 months. 40% of the infants had been put to bed in the prone
position on the preceding evening. 18% of the mothers had smoked durin
g pregnancy. Prevalence of low birth weight was 4.9% for 0 to 4 cigare
ttes per day during pregnancy, 17.2% for 5 cigarettes and more. At one
week, 16.5% of children were not exclusively breast-fed. On the basis
of these results, it can be estimated that an effective prevention pr
ogramme, centred of prone sleeping position could decrease the inciden
ce of SIDS by 50% or more. An even greater fraction of cases, up to 80
%, could be avoided by the prevention of the 3 studied factors. These
estimates show the need to develop a mother and child health programme
in Switzerland.