Fan Use Effective In Bringing Down SIDS Deaths

Here is one very good way of ensuring new born babies do not fall prey to sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS: using a fan. New research published Monday indicates that in a study involving close to 500 babies, use of a fan causes air to circulate, thereby reducing the risk of the baby inhaling the carbon dioxide they exhale and succumbing to SIDS.

In the course of the new study, the study team examined 185 babies who had succumbed to SIDS in comparison to 312 babies that were randomly selected. They compared the two groups according to age, ethnic group, race, and also country of origin.

SIDS, which continues to be the leading cause of death in infants aged between one month and one year in the United States, has been brought under control to a large extent. Practices adopted to prevent SIDS deaths have been effective, bringing down the number of SIDS deaths by over 50% in a decade. A report showed that the number of SIDS deaths had come down to about 2,100 in 2003, down from the initial rate in 1992.

The downslide is mainly because of the Back to Sleep campaign. As part of this campaign, doctors advice parents of newborns to make their babies sleep on their backs, which seems to be the best way to counter SIDS till date. Other steps parents can take to counter the possibility of SIDS include using a hard mattress, ensuring there are no toys or pillows in the baby’s crib, and also ensuring the baby does not feel too warm.

Speaking about the study, its senior author Dr. De-Kun Li, from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California, said, “The baby's sleeping environment really matters. This seems to suggest that by improving room ventilation we can further reduce risk.”

Speaking about the use of a fan in the baby’s room, Dr. Li said a fan does not cause the air to cool down; it merely helps move it around and ensure the air does not get stale inside the room. Therefore, parents can get the notion that using a fan may cause the baby to feel cold out of their thoughts. However, they should take the standard precautions like ensuring the cabling is safely done and placed away from the reach of the baby.

The study showed that using the fan brought down SIDS risk by a whopping 72 percent – there were only three deaths reported of babies who had a fan on in their rooms. Other researchers said while the use of the fan is probably a factor in reducing SIDS deaths, more research would have to be done in this area.

Speaking about the study, Dr. Fern Hauck, of Charlottesville’s University of Virginia, said, “This is the first study that we know of that has looked at this issue.” Dr. Hauck is also a member of the SIDS task force of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

SIDS, while being a leading cause of death in infants, is still a mystery to many. Healthy babies succumb to it and doctors still do not know why that happens. One possibility is that SIDS babies have some abnormality in their brain that does not allow them to wake up when their oxygen intake is lower than normal.

The study, funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, was published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.