Although SIDS deaths in the United Kingdom have decreased over the past two decades, the number of babies who died while sleeping on sofas has increased.
Peter Fleming, of the Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol, lead researcher of the study, says, "Although the reasons for the rise in deaths when a parent sleeps with their infant on a sofa are unclear, we strongly recommend that parents avoid this sleeping environment."
The researchers began their study by looking at how a "Back-to-Sleep" educational campaign on SIDS has affected the number of deaths from the syndrome since the program began in 1991.
They compared data on 369 unexpected infant deaths between 1984 and 2003 in Avon, England with data on 1,300 babies from a study that took place between 1993 and 1996.
The found that deaths among babies who slept on the bed with a parent fell, while the number of SIDS deaths from infants who slept with parents on a sofa increase fourfold, according to HealthDay News.
The team also found that infants in poorer families who died from SIDS increased from 47 percent to 74 percent.
Fleming says, "Our data clearly show that SIDS is now largely confined to deprived families, and if we exclude deaths on sofas, the numbers of babies dying whilst in bed with their parents has fallen by 50 percent over the past 20 years."
The study is published in the Jan. 18 online edition of the Lancet.
