NSIDRC Journal Article Alert — March 26, 2010
Prepared by the National Sudden and Unexpected Infant/Child Death and Pregnancy Loss Resource Center at Georgetown University.
These articles have been selected from PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine that includes over 19 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to 1948. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources.
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Sudden Infant Death
1. Moon RY, Oden RP, Joyner BL, Ajao TI
Qualitative Analysis of Beliefs and Perceptions about Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome in African-American Mothers: Implications
for Safe Sleep Recommendations
J Pediatr. 2010 Mar 18. [Epub ahead of print]
Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC; Department of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate, by using qualitative methods, perceptions
about sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in African-American
parents and how these influence decisions. STUDY DESIGN: Eighty-three
mothers participated in focus groups or individual interviews.
Interviews probed reasons for decisions about infant sleep
environment and influences affecting these decisions. Data
were coded, and themes were developed and revised in an iterative
manner as patterns became more apparent. RESULTS: Themes included
lack of plausibility, randomness, and vigilance. Many mothers
believed that the link between SIDS and sleep position was
implausible. Because the cause of SIDS was unknown, they did
not understand how certain behaviors could be defined as risk
factors. This confusion was reinforced by perceived inconsistency
in the recommendations. Most mothers believed that SIDS occurred
randomly ("God's will") and that the only way to
prevent it was vigilance. CONCLUSIONS: Many African-American
mothers may not understand the connection between SIDS and
sleep behaviors or believe that behavior (other than vigilance)
cannot affect risk. These beliefs, if acted on, may affect
rates of safe sleep practices. Efforts to explain a plausible
link between SIDS and safe sleep recommendations and to improve
consistency of the message may result in increased adherence
to these recommendations. Copyright © 2010 Mosby, Inc. All
rights reserved.
Miscarriage/Stillbirth/Prenatal Issues
1. Greenwood DC, Alwan N, Boylan S, Cade JE, Charvill J, Chipps
KC, Cooke MS, Dolby VA, Hay AW, Kassam S, Kirk SF, Konje JC,
Potdar N, Shires S, Simpson N, Taub N, Thomas JD, Walker J,
White KL, Wild CP
Caffeine intake during pregnancy, late miscarriage and stillbirth
Eur J Epidemiol. 2010 Mar 21. [Epub ahead of print]
Biostatistics Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Leeds, Worsley Building, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom, d.c.greenwood@leeds.ac.uk.
Caffeine is a commonly consumed drug during pregnancy with the potential to affect the developing fetus. Findings from previous studies have shown inconsistent results. We recruited a cohort of 2,643 pregnant women, aged 18-45 years, attending two UK maternity units between 8 and 12 weeks gestation from September 2003 to June 2006. We used a validated tool to assess caffeine intake at different stages of pregnancy and related this to late miscarriage and stillbirth, adjusting for confounders, including salivary cotinine as a biomarker of smoking status. There was a strong association between caffeine intake in the first trimester and subsequent late miscarriage and stillbirth, adjusting for confounders. Women whose pregnancies resulted in late miscarriage or stillbirth had higher caffeine intakes (geometric mean = 145 mg/day; 95% CI: 85-249) than those with live births (103 mg/day; 95% CI: 98-108). Compared to those consuming < 100 mg/day, odds ratios increased to 2.2 (95% CI: 0.7-7.1) for 100-199 mg/day, 1.7 (0.4-7.1) for 200-299 mg/day, and 5.1 (1.6-16.4) for 300+ mg/day (P (trend) = 0.004). Greater caffeine intake is associated with increases in late miscarriage and stillbirth. Despite remaining uncertainty in the strength of association, our study strengthens the observational evidence base on which current guidance is founded.
2. Wang L, Wang ZC, Xie C, Liu XF, Yang MS
Genome-Wide Screening for Risk Loci of Idiopathic Recurrent
Miscarriage in a Han Chinese Population: A Pilot Study
Reprod Sci. 2010 Mar 19. [Epub ahead of print]
The etiology of recurrent miscarriage (RM) is extremely heterogeneous, including genetic, immunologic, anatomic, endocrinological, and infectious anomalies. About 50% of RM is unexplained or poorly understood, which is called idiopathic recurrent miscarriage (IRM). The primary aim of this study was to identify the genetic loci that might be susceptible to IRM. Forty-four Han Chinese patients with IRM during the first trimester of their pregnancies and 44 healthy sex- and ethnic-matched controls were enrolled in this study. A case-control and genome-wide study was performed and 430 polymorphic microsatellite markers were analyzed. Three loci, 6q27 (D6S446, P = .028), 9q33.1 (D9S1776, P = .037), and Xp22.11 (DXS1226, P = .008), significantly associated with IRM were found. This work identified 3 genetic regions that might harbor genes predisposed to IRM and provided new insights for future genetic and etiological study of IRM. Further study is required to confirm it.
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Loss Resource Center
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