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An epidemiological survey of SIDS in the Sydney metropolitan area
Author(s) -
ANDERSON S. C.,
EDELMAN D. C.,
MURRELL W. G.,
O'NEILL C. C.,
RAHILLY P.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1993.tb03017.x
Subject(s) - metropolitan area , sudden infant death syndrome , medicine , allotment , epidemiology , demography , geography , pediatrics , ecology , pathology , sociology , biology
Records of 1049 cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) (100%) in the Sydney metropolitan area (SMA) from 1980 to 1989 were analysed in relation to ambient temperature, geographical distribution and socio‐economic scale. The SIDS rate varied between eastern and western Sydney and between statistical subdivisions; it peaked sharply in July, coinciding with the monthly mean minimum daily temperature (MMMDT; 6.5 and 5.4°C, respectively). The inverse linear relationship between the SIDS rate and the MMMDT for the regions and the subdivisions was highly significant (P<0.001). The SIDS rate showed a significant inverse linear relationship to two socio‐economic scales (allotment and house value) for 82 of the 87 suburbs (94%) of the SMA. Temperature, indicative of cold weather, was the major factor determining SIDS rates, and this, together with socio‐economic factors, largely explains the observed geographical distribution of SIDS rates in the SMA.