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Racial Differences in Trends and Predictors of Infant Sleep Positioning in South Carolina, 1996–2007

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Abstract

This paper examines racial differences in trends and predictors of prone and lateral infant sleep positioning among South Carolina mothers and infants. Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data were used to analyze linear trends in prone, lateral, and supine infant sleep positioning among 14,648 mother-infant pairs from 1996 to 2007. Logistic regression models were used to examine the predictors of prone and lateral positioning among 9,015 mother-infant pairs from 2000 to 2007. From 1996 to 2007, white infants experienced a reduction in both prone and lateral positioning and an increase in supine positioning (28.2–66.7%), while black infants had smaller decreases in prone and lateral positioning and a smaller increase in supine positioning (22.6–47.1%) than white infants. Compared to births in 2000–2005, births after the explicit recommendation that infants not be placed in the lateral sleep position (2006–2007) were associated with decreased odds of lateral positioning among white infants (odds ratio [OR]: 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.51, 0.87) but not among black infants. The significant predictors of white infants being placed in the prone position were different from the predictors for black infants. Additionally, with regard to lateral sleep positioning, more significant predictors were observed among white infants than black infants. These findings suggest that efforts are warranted to increase the prevalence of supine sleep positioning, especially among black infants. Race-specific programs may efficiently reduce non-supine sleep positioning to help narrow racial gaps in sudden infant death syndrome.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for the South Carolina PRAMS Program is provided by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA (Grant No. 5UR6 DP000502-04) and CDC PRAMS staff assisted in the collection and preparation of this data. We thank Kenneth D. Rosenberg, MD, MPH for his thoughtful review of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Office of Public Health Statistics and Information Systems, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, 2600 Bull St., Columbia, SC, USA

    Michael G. Smith, Kristen H. Helms & Kristin L. Wilkerson

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Ji-Hong Liu

Authors
  1. Michael G. Smith
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  2. Ji-Hong Liu
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  3. Kristen H. Helms
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  4. Kristin L. Wilkerson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael G. Smith.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 5.

Table 5 Prevalence of supine, lateral, and prone sleep positioning among non-Hispanic white and black infants, South Carolina 1996–2007
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Smith, M.G., Liu, JH., Helms, K.H. et al. Racial Differences in Trends and Predictors of Infant Sleep Positioning in South Carolina, 1996–2007. Matern Child Health J 16, 72–82 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0718-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0718-0

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