American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 144, No. 11: 1070-1073
Copyright © 1996 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
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Risk Factors of Sudden Infant Death in Chinese Babies
1Institute of Biomedical Sciences Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C
2Sun Yat-Sen Institute of Social Sciences and Philosophy Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C
3Institute of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C
Reprint requests to Dr. Harald H. Knöbel, ISSP, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan, R.O.C.
The influence of social and biologic factors on sudden infant death was studied in a large Chinese population. Data from all birth certificates in Taiwan from 1988 to 1992 were merged with death certificate data for postneonatal deaths from sudden infant death syndrome and suffocation. The Cox's proportional hazard model was used to compute multivariate adjusted relative risk estimates and 95% confidence intervals. Age difference of parents of more than 10 years was associated with a relative risk (RR) of 1.8 (multivariate adjusted, 95% confidence interval (Cl) 1.3–2.3). Better than elementary education for the father was protective (adjusted RR 0.8, 95% Cl 0.7–1.0, p < 0.05), and college education of the mother elevated the risk (adjusted RR 1.2, 95% Cl 1.0–1.4, p < 0.05). Infants born second to fourth had an adjusted RR of 1.7 (95% Cl 1.5–1.9), and infants bom fifth or higher had a RR of 2.3 (95% Cl 1.5–3.4). The multivariate adjusted RR for low birth weight and prematurity were 2.3 (95% Cl 1.9–2.8) and 1.2 (95% Cl 1.0–1.5), respectively. Data from this 5-year cohort in Taiwan emphasize biologic and social variables as important risk factors of sudden infant death in Chinese babies. Am J Epidemiol 1996;144:1070-3.
birth order; birth weight; gestational age; socioeconomic factors; sudden infant death