Overheating Underrecognized
As Possible Cause For SIDS

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Overheating caused by putting too many blankets on a baby or keeping the child's room too warm is an often overlooked factor in sudden infant deaths (SIDS) in the United States, researchers said on Monday.

The report from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle calls for a ``vigorous public campaign warning of heat stress as a preventable risk factor'' in crib deaths, alongside what is now recognized as the most important preventative--putting infants to sleep on the back and not the stomach.

``Although the risk of thermal stress is widely accepted abroad, it has received relatively little attention in the United States,'' according to the study in the April issue of Pediatrics. Dr. Warren G. Guntheroth led the study.

``The incidence of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) in the United States can likely be further reduced by educating the public against the dangers of overheating, as an integral part of the back-to-sleep campaign,'' the report indicated.

The authors said they based their conclusions on a review of existing studies, including some that have suggested that covering babies' heads with a blanket causes them to ''re-breath'' exhaled air, which leads to suffocation.

According to Guntheroth's team, however, re-breathing would rarely cause death.

``We conclude that deaths attributed to re-breathing could more logically be attributed to thermal stress. Still, in a preventive program against SIDS, both thermal stress and re-breathing should have as common objectives the avoidance of prone sleeping, soft bedding, and covering the head,'' the authors write.

Excessive sweating, high room temperature, infection with fever and excessive bedclothes are factors in heat stress, the study indicates. In addition it is known that more crib deaths occur in winter than summer, the researchers note.

``It is possible that both thermal stress and re-breathing are interrelated co-factors of a lethal process that could lead to (death) through failure to arouse or respiratory failure,'' the authors conclude. ``Defects in brain stem function from earlier injuries could increase the susceptibility to either mechanism.''

SOURCE: Pediatrics 2001;107:693-698.

Reference Source 89

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