Alcohol consumption by parents may be behind a surge of sudden cot deaths on New Year’s Day, according to a new analysis.
The number of babies who die from sudden infant death syndrome – popularly known as cot death – increases by 33 per cent on January 1, said sociologist David Phillips of the University of California, San Diego, which is beyond the normal winter increase in SIDS.
In the first, large-scale US study to explore possible connections between alcohol and cot death, Phillips and co-authors examined 129,090 cases from 1973 to 2006 using three datasets: computerised death certificates; the linked birth and infant death dataset; and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
Though cot death has decreased since the 1994 implementation of the "Back to Sleep" campaign, it continues to be the leading cause of death for children aged one month to one year, the researchers say.
The authors found three types of evidence linking baby deaths to alcohol: SIDS and alcohol consumption increase every weekend and the babies of mothers who drink are more than twice as likely to die of SIDS. The study also found a rise in SIDS just after April 20, a counterculture celebration of cannabis, and after July 4.
The study does not claim that alcohol consumption is a cause of the problem, but Phillips admits the connections were concerning and thought that parents may not follow the "Back to Sleep" recommendations, when they’ve been drinking.
"We know that when people are under the influence of alcohol their judgments are impaired and they are not as good at performing tasks. This would include caretaking," he said.
The authors acknowledge the limitations to the study, particularly because the large datasets contained little information per case.
Phillips believes further studies might shed additional light on the relationship between alcohol and baby death.
The study documenting the dramatic rise in SIDS deaths on New Year’s is published in the journal Addiction.
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