Aim
Campaigns to prevent prone sleeping and other modifiable risk factors have greatly reduced the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome in Norway. Sleep‐related infant deaths still occur sporadically and may be preventable. We studied infants’ sleeping environments and whether parents followed safe sleep recommendations.
Methods
Parents with infants up to 12 months of age were invited to complete an online questionnaire from May to December 2018. It was publicised by health centres and on websites and social media.
Results
We received 4886 responses and 4150 met the age criteria and were included. Just under two‐thirds (62.7%) reported routine bed‐sharing, and this practice was associated with increased nocturnal breastfeeding, single parents and having more than one child. A small number of infants under six months were occasionally placed prone when they were laid down to sleep (2.1%) and 29.7% were placed on their side. Nearly three‐quarters (72.6%) of the 2330 parents with infants under six months of age reported previous high‐risk behaviour, such as sleeping together on a sofa or bed‐sharing after smoking or drinking.
Conclusion
Norwegian parents rarely used prone sleeping positions for infants. However, bed‐sharing was common, including high‐risk scenarios such as smoking, alcohol use and sofas.
Every year an average of 30-35 children younger than 4 years die suddenly and unexpectedly in Norway. The cases require a careful balance between the children's right to legal protection, the duty to investigate criminal acts and the responsibility to care for the bereaved families. Doctors are legally obliged to report these deaths to the police. The police then initiate an investigation, independent of any suspicion of a criminal act, to gather information. The investigation includes ordering a forensic autopsy and sometimes also a death scene visit. Depending on the outcome, the police will either continue with a thorough investigation if a criminal act is suspected or postpone investigation pending the final forensic autopsy report.
There was no increased frequency of TLE between the carriers of the TT genotype compared with the healthy controls and/or family members without epilepsy. However, the TLE patients with the TT genotype showed tendencies of a more severe disease phenotype.
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