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Randy Hanzlick, MD; Gib Parrish, MD; Roy T. Ing, MD
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Ga

JAMA. 1993;270(22):2684-2685.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Guntheroth and Spiers¹ have reviewed recent studies of sleep position and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in the Netherlands, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, which, following publicity about avoidance of the prone sleep position, report a reduction of SIDS by 20% to 67% without a simultaneous increase in infant deaths due to other causes. Although these reports are encouraging, we are concerned about (1) the effect that such reports may have on the practice of diagnosing and certifying SIDS as the cause of death, and (2) the effects that changes in these practices may have on mortality statistics. As public and professional knowledge of these reports on the possible protective effect of the supine or other nonprone sleeping positions becomes more widespread, medical examiners, coroners, and other certifiers of infant deaths may use sleep position as a diagnostic criterion and certify SIDS as a cause . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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