HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: adc.2007.119180v1 93/5/384    most recent Submit a response Read responses to this article Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in ADC Online Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Côté, A Articles by Hatzakis, G Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Côté, A Articles by Hatzakis, G

Sudden infant deaths in sitting devices

¹ McGill University Health Centre, The Montreal Children’s Hospital, Respiratory Medicine Division, Montreal, Canada
² Centre de Recherche, Hôpital St-François d’Assise, Quebec City, Canada
³ Department of Pediatrics, Centre Mère-Enfant, CHUQ, Quebec City, Canada
⁴ McGill University Health Centre, Montreal General Hospital, Divisions of Clinical Epidemiology, Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Montreal, Canada

Correspondence to:
Aurore Côté, Respiratory Medicine Division, McGill University Health Centre, 2300 Tupper Street, D-380, Montreal, Canada H3H 1P3; aurore.cote{at}muhc.mcgill.ca

Background: As episodes of decreased oxygenation levels have been recorded in premature infants placed in car seats, it is believed that these infants are at risk of life-threatening events and death. No data on the prevalence of such infant deaths are available. The aim of our study was to determine the incidence of sudden deaths in infants occurring in sitting devices in a whole population and to determine whether premature infants account for a disproportionate number of these deaths.

Design: Retrospective population-based cohort study reviewing all cases of sudden unexpected death in infants between birth and 1 year of age that occurred in the province of Quebec between January 1991 and December 2000.

Results: Of the 508 deaths reviewed, 409 were unexplained and 99 were explained after investigation. Seventeen deaths occurred in a sitting device, of which 10 were unexplained. There was no excess of premature infants dying. However, there was an excess of infants of less than 1 month of age found to have died in a sitting position in the unexplained death group. In addition, three infants who died in a sitting position had an increased risk of upper airway obstruction.

Conclusion: Although very few deaths occurred in car seats, our results suggest that caution should be used when placing younger infants in car seats and similar sitting devices, whether the infants have been born prematurely or not. We also recommend that more attention be given to infants at increased risk of upper airway obstruction.