Very timely article that in 2020 the rate of SUIDS increased in black babies.
Each year, thousands of babies die suddenly and unexpectedly, and more than 3,300 young lives were lost in 2020. Rates remained stubbornly high in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, even as overall infant mortality dropped to a record low.
www.cnn.com
A study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics found that the rate for Black babies spiked in particular, widening an already stark disparity.
About 1 out of every 6 infant deaths were considered sudden unexpected infant deaths, or SUIDs, a broad classification of deaths that includes sudden infant death syndrome, known as SIDS, along with accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed and other unknown causes.
While the SUID rate for White babies dropped to the lowest it has been since 2017, the rate for Black babies in 2020 was the highest it has been since then. Rates that were already about two times higher for Black babies in 2017 grew to nearly three times higher in 2020, the study found.
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In a commentary responding to the research, physicians said that the high rates of sudden unexpected infant deaths in the United States – and growing disparities – “reflect our societal failures.”
Socioeconomic disparities “not only result in limited access to health care and education, but also in many families not having a stable, safe place for their infants to sleep,” they wrote.
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“Funding to adequately assess and support changes required to address root causes of adverse health and inequitable societal conditions and systems that disproportionately impact Black and Indigenous communities is essential, focusing on community-led efforts that may increase protective factors and reduce risk,” said Sabra Anckner, associate director for clinical and community collaboration at the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, who wasn’t involved in the new study.
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Experts agree that continued education and community support to reinforce safe sleep practices is key, and time spent in the hospital post-partum is a critical opportunity.
