Obstetric factors in 171 sudden infant deaths in Tasmania, 1970--1976

Obstetric events surrounding the births of 171 babies who later died from sudden infant death syndrome are reported; each death was paired with a case-control from the same hospital. Babies of mothers who were normally resident in the Hobart Metropolitan Region (but not in the rural areas of the Southern Region) suffered higher numbers of deaths, whereas there were significantly fewer deaths of babies of mothers resident in the Tamar urban urea and the Northwestern Region. Infants of mothers of over 30 years of age, of near to full term, 38 to 40 weeks' gestation, of birthweight of 2600 grams or more, who were not subjected either to short or to long duration of labour and who were initially breast-fed were at lesser risk. A wide variety of pharmaceuticals was given to the mother and baby during and after labour, but none caused any alteration of prognoses for the infants. The southern parts of the State show greater volume of administration of drugs of all types to mothers in labour, but none of these drugs had any detectable significance in regard to cot deaths.