Expert rebuffs cot death study

By ANGELA GREGORY

A Scottish study that claims a link between re-used baby mattresses and cot death shows only that second- and third-born children are at higher risk of dying, says an Auckland child health expert.

The study published in the latest British Medical Journal found that routine use of an infant mattress previously used by another child was significantly associated with a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (Sids).

Researchers at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow investigated the cot-deaths of 131 babies between January 1996 and May 2000.

They found half had died on mattresses that had been used by another child, with two-thirds of those mattresses coming from another home.

The chairman of the New Zealand Cot Death Association, Professor Ed Mitchell, has reviewed the study and is not convinced the mattresses can be blamed.

The Auckland University professor of child health research said the study showed only what was already well established - that Sids was more likely to occur in second or third babies.

Professor Mitchell said it was most likely babies were put at risk by infections brought into the home by older siblings.

Dr Jim Sprott, a long-time advocate for wrapping baby mattresses to prevent cot death, has said the study showed why such measures were crucial.

But Professor Mitchell said the Glasgow researchers had explicitly rejected the theory that toxic gases were produced by fungal activity on polyvinyl chloride coverings of mattresses.

Professor Mitchell said the internationally agreed advice to parents should remain to place babies on their backs and create a smoke-free environment during pregnancy and after birth.


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