Epidemiologic characterization of sudden infant death syndrome in relation to climate factors and air pollution in Korea: a case-crossover study

Abstract

Key words: sudden infant death syndrome, time-series, PM10, temperature Background & Aim Sudden infant death syndrome(SIDS) is an unexplained death of a baby within first year of birth. Although cause is unknown, studies suggest that environmental factors including weather and airborne particulate matter (PM) may be associated with infantile fatality. We conducted this study to estimate the effect of climate factors and air pollutants exposure on infantile death in Korea. Method Case-crossover study was performed to assess the temporal association of infantile death with potential environmental factors. SIDS cases from national mortality database from Statistics Korea was matched with 24-hr averages of the air quality indexes and meteorological indexes from the nearest monitoring post from 2007 to 2013, nationwide. Logistic regression was applied to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Result The total number of cases of SIDS in the 7 years was 588, the biggest cases of death was reported from Gyeonggi-do Province (n=135, 22.9%). Most of deaths happened in spring season(n=171; 29.0%), which shows the highest concentration of PM10. OR was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.96-0.99) for an 1℃ increase in 24-hr average of temperature and 1.05 (95% CI, 0.97-1.11) for a10μg/m3 increase in 24-hr average of PM10. Conclusion This study supports that lower temperature and higher PM10 level can be risk factors for SIDS.