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Sleeping with fan may reduce SIDS risk
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The national incidence of SIDS has steadily decreased since the early 1990s, by about 56 percent. This is largely due to the awareness campaign advising the public to place babies on their backs while sleeping, among other tips such as not letting babies get too hot or have loose bedding.
While this significant decrease occurred – the American Academy of Pediatrics reported an annual death rate of 5,000 in 1992, now down to 3,000 – the cause of SIDS is still unknown by doctors and nurses. In the mean time, maintaining proper education about SIDS and the risk factors is vital.
A recent study reveals that sleeping with a fan, in conjunction with other guidelines, may lower the risk of SIDS. Published in the October, 2008 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, authors Kimberly Coleman-Phox, M.P.H., and colleagues at Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., took a look at the association between room ventilation and SIDS – a factor they argue has not received sufficient attention.
Inadequate room ventilation might facilitate pooling of carbon dioxide around the infants nose and mouth, the authors explain, increasing the likelihood of rebreathing (breathing exhaled air). Having a fan blowing during sleep moves air around the room and may potentially reduce the risk of SIDS, according to data from the study.
“Although caretakers should continue to be encouraged to place infants on their backs to sleep, other potentially modifiable risk factors in the sleep environment should be examined to promote further decline in the rate of SIDS,” said researchers.
Out of the analyzed cases – compiled of information from SIDS cases and living infants – having a fan on during sleep was associated with a 72 percent decrease in SIDS risk compared to sleeping in a room without a fan. The warmer the room when the fan was put into use, the decreased risk was even greater. Fan use also was associated with a decreased risk of SIDS in infants who slept in the prone or side position, shared a bed with someone other than their parents or did not use a pacifier.
Compared with infants who did not die from SIDS, at the last sleep, more infants who died from SIDS:
• were placed on their stomachs or sides (68.9 percent vs. 43.9 percent)
• did not use a pacifier (95.9 percent vs. 76.4 percent)
• were found with bedding or clothing covering the head (11.4 percent vs. 4.5 percent)
• slept on a soft surface (12.1 percent vs. 6.8 percent)
• shared a bed with someone other than a parent (14 percent vs. 5.5 percent)
The use of soft bedding underneath the infant and room temperature at last sleep were the same for both groups of children.
“Although improving the methods used to convey the importance of the supine sleep position remains paramount," the authors said, "use of a fan in the room of a sleeping infant may be an easily available means of further reducing SIDS risk that can be readily accepted by care providers from a variety of social and cultural backgrounds."
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