Proper ventilation lowers SIDS risk
Using a fan in babies' rooms that have poor ventilation reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Using a fan in babies' rooms that have poor ventilation reduces the risk of
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Re-inhaling carbon dioxide has been hypothesised to contribute to SIDS. By allowing the pooling of carbon dioxide gas around an infant's nose and mouth during sleep, combined with inadequate ventilation in the room, may increase the risk of SIDS.
To investigate if improving a room's ventilation reduces the risk, researchers from America conducted a study involving 185 infants who died of SIDS and 312 infants with characteristics similar to those of the SIDS infants. Data on fan use and other aspects of the sleep environment were obtained through interviews with the infants' mothers.
It was found that using a fan during sleep was linked with a 72 percent reduction in SIDS risk. Further study showed that the benefits of using a fan were most pronounced in adverse sleep environments, such as a warm rather than a cool room, reducing the risk of SIDS by 94 percent.
Fans also reduced the impact of known risk factors for SIDS. For infants who slept on their stomach or their side, rather than on their back, a fan in the room reduced the risk by about 86 percent. Likewise, the risk was reduced by about 85 percent for infants who shared a bed with a person other than a parent. Fan use only reduced the risk of SIDS in infants who were not using pacifiers. Prior research has linked pacifier use with a decreased risk of SIDS.
Although the importance of putting infants to sleep on their backs is the paramount message for parents, the use of a fan in the room of a sleeping infant appears to offer an easily available means of further reducing SIDS risk that can be readily accepted by parents and caretakers of various social and cultural backgrounds.
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
October 2008
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