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Sudden infant death syndrome and weather temperature
Author(s) -
Mitchell E.A.,
Stewart A.W.,
Cowan S.F.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
paediatric and perinatal epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.667
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3016
pISSN - 0269-5022
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3016.1992.tb00739.x
Subject(s) - sudden infant death syndrome , medicine , maximum temperature , demography , negative correlation , infant mortality , positive correlation , pediatrics , climatology , population , environmental health , sociology , geology
Summary. The relationship between the days on which sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) occurred and the daily minimum temperature was examined in Auckland (1979–1984) and Christchurch (1979–1987). There was a marked winter excess of deaths in both regions. There was a significant negative correlation between the monthly mean minimum temperature and SIDS rate for both regions ( r = ‐ 0.43, n = 347, P < 0.0001). The monthly mean minimum temperature describes SIDS mortality equally as well as the three variables of daily minimum temperature, season and geographical location. There was a significant association of SIDS with minimum temperature 4 and 5 days prior to the death after adjusting for the effect of monthly mean minimum temperature. The days preceding death were on average colder than the other days, but the effect was small, especially when compared with the magnitude of the temperature differences between consecutive months.