The effect of maternal smoking and drinking during pregnancy upon (3)H-nicotine receptor brainstem binding in infants dying of the sudden infant death syndrome: initial observations in a high risk population.

The high rate of the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in American Indians in the Northern Plains (3.5/1000) may reflect the high incidence of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Nicotine, a neurotoxic component of cigarettes, and alcohol adversely affect nicotinic receptor binding and subsequent cholinergic development in animals.

Serotonergic brainstem abnormalities in Northern Plains Indians with the sudden infant death syndrome.

The rate of the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) among American Indian infants in the Northern Plains is almost 6 times higher than in U.S. white infants.

Infant sleep position and associated health outcomes.

Background: The incidence of sudden infant death syndrome has decreased in the United States as the percentage of infants sleeping prone has decreased, but persisting concerns about the safety of supine sleeping likely contribute to prone sleeping prevalence rates that remain higher than 10%.

Objective: To document health outcomes in infants aged 1 to 6 months in relation to sleep position.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Secular changes in sleep position during infancy: 1995-1998.

Objective: Prone sleeping among infants has been associated with an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. The objective of this study was to compare factors associated with sleep position in 1995-1996 and 1997-1998 and to assess secular trends in use of prone infant sleep position from 1995 through 1998 among families stratified by race and education.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in eastern Massachusetts and northwest Ohio of 12 029 mothers of infants who weighed > or =2500 g at birth.

Risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome among northern plains Indians.

Context: Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a leading cause of postneonatal mortality among American Indians, a group whose infant death rate is consistently above the US national average.

Objective: To determine prenatal and postnatal risk factors for SIDS among American Indians.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Population-based case-control study of 33 SIDS infants and 66 matched living controls among American Indians in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa enrolled from December 1992 to November 1996 and investigated using standardized parental interview, medical record abstraction, autopsy protocol, and infant death review.