Distribution of prenatal and postnatal risk factors for sudden infant death in Budapest

Objective-To study the distribution of prenatal and postnatal risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Design-A questionnaire-based survey for SIDS risk factors; family interview s were performed among the parents of SIDS victims and symptom-free infants . Setting-The survey was conducted in paediatric primary health care units in Budapest, Hungary in the period 1996 to 1998. Subject-Eighteen SIDS cases and 74 symptom-free healthy infants aged 7-365 days were investigated. Main outcome measures-Occurrence of risk factors and impact of social envir onment were analysed using conditional logistic regression. Results-In this study, the classic risk factors of small birth weight, mate rnal smoking, bottle-feeding did not reflect differences between the invest igated groups. The prone position did not demonstrate a difference between SIDS cases and controls (p=0.86). Short intervals between pregnancies (OR=4 .8, CI=1.2-19.9, p=0.025) and social disadvantage (OR=6.7, CI=1.3-35.7, p=0 .015) indicated significant differences between SIDS cases and controls. Conclusion-The outcome of our survey shows that infants from a lower social and economic environment may be at higher risk for SIDS.