Abstract

Objectives To examine the association between use of a dummy (pacifier) during sleep and the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in relation to other risk factors.

Design Population based case-control study.

Setting Eleven counties in California.

Participants Mothers or carers of 185 infants whose deaths were attributed to SIDS and 312 randomly selected controls matched for race or ethnicity and age.

Main outcome measure Use of a dummy during sleep determined through interviews.

Results The adjusted odds ratio for SIDS associated with using a dummy during the last sleep was 0.08 (95% confidence interval 0.03 to 0.21). Use was associated with a reduction in risk in every category of sociodemographic characteristics and risk factors examined. The reduced risk associated with use seemed to be greater with adverse sleep conditions (such as sleeping prone or on side and sleeping with a mother who smoked), although the observed interactions were not significant. In addition, use of a dummy may reduce the impact of other risk factors for SIDS, especially those related to adverse sleep environment. For example, infants who did not use a dummy and slept prone or on their sides (v on their back) had an increased risk of SIDS (2.61, 1.56 to 4.38). In infants who used dummies, there was no increased risk associated with sleeping position (0.66, 0.12 to 3.59). While cosleeping with a mother who smoked was also associated with increased risk of SIDS among infants who did not use a dummy (4.5, 1.3 to 15.1), there was no such association among those who did (1.1, 0.1 to 13.4).

Conclusions Use of a dummy seems to reduce the risk of SIDS and possibly reduces the influence of known risk factors in the sleep environment.