March 2, 2006 E-zine – Early Release Issue

The Georgia SIDS Project E-Zine is an on-line educational update offered monthly by the Georgia Sudden Infant Death Information, Referral and Support Project, an affiliate of First Candle/SIDS Alliance. To comment on this issue, request additional information, refer families in need of support, make a donation or be added or removed from the list please contact us at gasids@mindspring.com or call 678-342-3360 or through Powerline at 1-800-822-2539.

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Volume 2 - Issue Number 3A, March 2006

1. This year the Georgia SIDS Project April 27, 2006 Training Conference is titled “Grief, Grieving and Grief Support Training.” The conference will be limited to 100 professionals during the day, with a planned family memorial event following the day long series of workshops. To learn more about the conference and register go to www.sidsga.org

2. CDC has released the new Sudden, Unexplained Infant Death Investigation (SUIDI) Reporting Form for state and local use in infant death-scene investigations. Training information for Georgia Investigators will be available soon.

3. Now Available: A New Video on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: The Listening Heart:

4. New car booster seat initiative National statistics showing less than one out of every five children between the ages of 4 and 8 is riding in a car booster seat plus info on bicycle helmet and other safety information.

5. Environmental tobacco smoke and sudden infant death syndrome: A literature review abstract

6. The Scottish Perinatal Neuropathology Study-looking at brain damage and the correlation in stillbirths.

7. SIDS risk factors and factors associated with prone sleeping in Sweden

8. Infant, Neonatal and Postneonatal death rates in the US form CDC data.

1. Georgia SIDS Project is sponsoring a Spring Training Conference “Grief, Grieving and Grief Support Training” focused on the initial period following a miscarriage, stillbirth, or child death. The conference, planned for April 27, 2006 at Clayton State University will feature Charlie Walton, noted author and speaker. The cost for the full day, including continental breakfast, lunch and training materials, including copy of Mr. Walton’s book “When There Are No Words” is $30 for professionals, and $5 charge for the afternoon sessions only is available for family members who have suffered a pregnancy loss or child death. The Conference is targeted at Georgia nurses, clergy, funeral directors, social workers, DFACS staff , death scene investigators and others. Nursing, social work, clergy and funeral home director CEU’s have been applied for. The conference will be followed by a memorial program for professionals and parents to remember our children. Family members are invited to join us for the day, the afternoon sessions only or the memorial service. To review the conference agenda and register for the conference go to www.sidsga.org

2. CDC releases the Sudden, Unexplained Infant Death Investigation (SUIDI) Reporting Form for state and local use in infant death-scene investigations. The SUIDI Reporting Form replaces the Investigation Report Form that accompanied the 1996 Guidelines for the Death Scene Investigation of Sudden, Unexplained Infant Death. The new SUIDI Reporting Form includes questions to establish cause and manner of death, determined by a 2004 national survey of medical examiners and coroners, in addition to new questions about recently recognized risk factors for SIDS (e.g., unaccustomed prone sleep position) (S.C. Clark, Ph.D., Occupational Research Associates, Inc., unpublished data, 2004). The new form is shorter and simpler than the 1996 form. For example, most questions can be answered by checking the appropriate box or filling in the blank provided. Training in investigation and use of the tool for investigators is planned for fall and winter 2006. The announcement and full overview of the project can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5508a7.htm?s_cid=mm5508a7_e The form is available online at http://www.cdc.gov/SIDS.

3. Now Available: A New Video on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: The Listening Heart: The Listening Heart is a new educational documentary that chronicles the day to day challenges of children, parents, and families who struggle with the consequences of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The Listening Heart offers a unique look into the world of FAS through the eyes of medical experts, adoptive parents, and those directly affected by the disorder - the children. Over a production period of eight months, filmmaker and crew were able to gain access into a world previously unseen and misunderstood by the general public. By working hand in hand with families and experts, The Listening Heart has become the only FAS film that combines parents' insight backed up with scientific information about prenatal alcohol exposure and its devastating effects on intellectual and behavioral development. The film can be purchased individually or in the special edition, a double DVD set which includes a scripted PowerPoint presentation and learning guide for training and dissemination of the latest information on FAS, children, and families. The link is www.thelisteningheart.com.

4. National statistics showing less than one out of every five children between the ages of 4 and 8 is riding in a car booster seat are a sign of "failure" and must be addressed immediately, representatives from the U.S. Transportation Department. The Department announced a new federal initiative that will provide $25 million over the next four years to states that pass and enforce new or tougher booster seat laws. 34 states and the District of Columbia already have booster seat laws. But 16 states don't have such protections on the books. Parents can visit http://www.boosterseat.gov/ to find out if their child should be in a booster seat. Also see http://www.dot.gov/affairs/minetasp021306.htm Also These National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) fact sheets describe the laws concerning the following traffic safety categories: impaired drivers; bicycle and motorcycle safety (helmet use); safety belts use; child passenger safety; and adolescent drivers. Click on

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.a8131659c3c0a2381601031046108a0c/?javax.portlet.tpst=4427b997caacf504a8bdba101891ef9a_ws_MX&javax.portlet.prp_4427b997caacf504a8bdba101891ef9a_viewID=detail_view&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=token&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=token&itemID=658fb592cf869010VgnVCM1000002c567798RCRD&viewType=standard

5. Environmental tobacco smoke and sudden infant death syndrome: A review. By Adgent MA.
Birth Defects Res B Dev Reprod Toxicol. 2006 Feb 22; Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), containing the developmental neurotoxicant, nicotine, is a prevalent component of indoor air pollution. Despite a strong association with active maternal smoking and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), information on the risk of SIDS due to prenatal and postnatal ETS exposure is relatively inconsistent. This literature review begins with a discussion and critique of existing epidemiologic data pertaining to ETS and SIDS. It then explores the biologic plausibility of this association, with comparison of the known association between active maternal smoking and SIDS, by examining metabolic and placental transfer issues associated with nicotine, and the biologic responses and mechanisms that may follow exposure to nicotine. Evidence indicates that prenatal and postnatal exposures to nicotine do occur from ETS exposure, but that the level of exposure is often substantially less than levels induced by active maternal smoking. Nicotine also has the capacity to concentrate in the fetus, regardless of exposure source. Experimental animal studies show that various doses of nicotine are capable of affecting a neonate's response to hypoxic conditions, a process thought to be related to SIDS outcomes. Mechanisms contributing to deficient hypoxia response include the ability of nicotine to act as a cholinergic stimulant through nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) binding. The need for future research to investigate nicotine exposure and effects from non-maternal tobacco smoke sources in mid to late gestation is emphasized, along with a need to discourage smoking around both pregnant women and infants.

6. The Scottish Perinatal Neuropathology Study-clinicopathological correlation in stillbirths.
BJOG. 2006 Mar Becher JC, et al Scotland, To purpose of this study was to examine the neuropathology of fetuses dying before birth, to determine the timing of any brain damage seen and to ascertain clinical associations of pre-existing brain damage. Clinical details were available for 471 stillborn fetuses, and detailed neuropathology was possible in 191 cases. Of these 191, 13 were multiple births, 9 died following abruption, 12 were intrapartum deaths and 157 were antepartum stillborn fetuses (99 preterm and 58 full term). Recent or established brain damage was seen in 66% of the entire cohort. Thirty-five percent of all cases showed well-established hypoxic damage predating the last evidence of fetal life, and this was more common in preterm fetuses, those fetuses with evidence of recent damage, in pregnancies complicated by pregnancy-induced hypertension and those in whom the placenta was <10th percentile. The study concluded that brain damage is commonly seen in stillborn infants, and in around one-third of cases, damage predates the period immediately before death. Factors suggesting suboptimal placental function are associated with such damage. Early identification of placental impairment may lead to improved pregnancy outcome.

7. SIDS risk factors and factors associated with prone sleeping in Sweden. by Alm B, et al. Arch Dis Child. 2006 Feb 7; The purpose of the study was to compare the prevalence of risk factors for SIDS in Sweden today with a decade earlier, and to assess factors associated with prone sleeping. A cohort study of 5600 healthy six-month-old infants born in 2003 in the Western Sweden region and 430 healthy Swedish infants born between 1991 and 1995. The study found that prone sleeping decreased from 31.8 % to 5.5 % and supine sleeping increased from 35.3 % to 46.2 %. Use of side or side/supine increased from 25.2 % to 43.8 %. Maternal smoking during pregnancy decreased from 23.5 % to 9.5 %. The risk for prone sleeping increased if the mother was unemployed, if the mother was a heavy smoker in the third trimester and if the child was irritable, shared a bedroom with other children or never used a pacifier. The study concluded that Parents have complied with the advice given at the Infant Welfare Centers, which is still effective ten years after the introduction of advice to prevent SIDS. A change of the preferred sleeping position from side variants to exclusively supine, and cessation of smoking among more pregnant women may be beneficial. Use of prone sleeping position was associated with maternal employment status, maternal smoking, temperament of the child, pacifier use and sharing the bedroom with siblings.

8. Infant, Neonatal and Postneonatal death rates in the US form CDC data.

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