High Altitude Increases Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Theories of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) suggest hypoxia is a common pathway. Infants living at altitude have evidence of hypoxia; however, the association between SIDS incidence and infant residential altitude has not been well studied.

We performed a retrospective cohort study by using data from the Colorado birth and death registries from 2007 to 2012. Infant residential altitude was determined by geocoding maternal residential address. Logistic regression was used to determine adjusted association between residential altitude and SIDS. We evaluated the impact of the Back to Sleep campaign across various altitudes in an extended cohort from 1990 to 2012 to assess for interaction between sleep position and altitude.

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