A study of the National Survey of Children's Health examined sleep positions among U.S. infants from 2016 to 2022.
In the study, published in JAMA Network Open, investigators assessed sleep positions across four age groups for the first time. They analyzed the data from 9,396 infants, after excluding 383 participants with missing sleep position information. The study used survey-weighted logistic regression to assess trends, controlling for multiple factors including race, family income, household education, maternal age, household smoking status, and infant gestation.
Overall prevalence of nonsupine sleep positioning was:
- 4 months: 12.0%
- 6 months: 12.9%
- 9 months: 19.2%
- 12 months: 23.0%.
The research revealed variations in nonsupine sleep positioning across population subgroups:
- Racial and Ethnic Differences: Black infants showed higher rates of nonsupine sleep positioning, while Hispanic infants demonstrated an upward trend at 4 months.
- Socioeconomic Factors Nonsupine sleep positioning was more common among infants from low-income households, households with lower educational attainment, and households with smokers.
Approximately 3,500 sleep-related infant deaths occurred annually in the United States. Ninety percent of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases happened prior to 6 months of age.
The investigators noted potential generalizability limitations caused by the predominance of non-Hispanic White participants in the sample.
The research received support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China. No conflicts of interest were reported.
The study provided a comprehensive look at infant sleep positioning trends across different demographic groups.