Trends in rates and seasonal distribution of sudden infant deaths in England and Wales, 1988-92

In the United Kingdom around half of all deaths between 1 month and 1 year of age are sudden—that is, cot death, the sudden infant death syndrome, or a similar description is recorded on the death certificate with or without any other cause. Epidemiological features suggest that infections, sleeping prone, exposure to cigarette smoke, and overheating of infants, particularly in the winter, may be associated with sudden infant deaths.1 2 A campaign launched in October 1991 in the United Kingdom encouraged parents to avoid putting infants to sleep on their fronts, smoking near them, and overheating them. A similar campaign in New Zealand was followed by a fall in sudden infant death …