Sudden deaths between babies in the United States rises, a new study shows. Researchers have found that the death rate of sudden unexpected child death (Suid) has increased in recent years, even as children’s deaths generally decreased.
Scientists from Virginia Community University did the study, issued Monday in the magazine Jama Pediatrics. The research has found that Suid’s annual death toll has significantly risen since 2020, despite a total decline in child mortality dating two decades. The researchers speculate that growth of opioid use, respiratory infections such as Covid-19, or some social media trends may contribute to the increase.
Suid is a wide term that covers accident strangers, a sudden childhood dead syndrome (SIDS) and other unknown causes of child death. Though the Right devices behind SIDS/SUID Whether it is not yet clear, these deaths often occur in babies sleeping or lying on a bed. And it is known that some sleep positions – particularly sleeping on the stomach – can raise the risk of SIDS. Following the introduction of public health campaigns, which emphasized safer sleep practices in the 1990s, SIDS rates in the United States declined substantially. Lately however data has suggested That cases of SIDS/SuID may climb up.
In 2023, the same VCU researchers issued A study that looked at SuID rates between 2015 and 2020, using dead data obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They found that the rate increased significantly between black babies between 2019 and 2020. In this new study, the researchers were able to examine more recent data, until 2022.
Overall, they found that the child’s death was generally declined between 1999 and 2022. But the death toll for Suids rose significantly about 11% between 2020 and 2022. Deaths of SIDS. Unlike the 2023 study, the researchers found that this growth of Suid was not isolated to a single demographic. This said, however, they found serious inequalities, with the total death toll of Suid higher between American, black and Hawaiian/Pacific islanders compared to white or Asian babies.
“Although a previous CDC study – using data until 2020 – founded that a sudden unexpected childhood death increased for black babies, this new study – adding data from 2021 and 2022 – realized that the rise is more widespread and occurred in babies at all,” said overall, “said chief researcher Elizabeth Wolf, an associate professor in the Pediatric Department of VCU School of Medicine, in Statement from the university.
Although this study itself cannot turn off the specific reasons for the growth, Wolf and her colleagues offer some possible explanations. An increase in opioid use between mothers, for example, or the appearance of the Covid-19 pandemic could be factors, they argue. Another factor could be the messaging that new parents are now exposed on social media.
“In social media posts, babies can be seen in unsafe sleep positions, for example on their stomach instead of on the back, and in unsafe sleep environments such as adult beds, sofas and baby swings,” Wolf said.
While only some of Suid cases can be really preventable, researchers say that more need to make sure that families get the education needed to lower the risk of their children, along with a tighter regulation of products that could be dangerous to sleep babies. In 2023, for example, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued Announcement of public service warning parents to stay away from weighted blankets advertised for babies.