MONDAY, Oct. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Using a fan in rooms where infants are sleeping may reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), particularly when temperatures are higher, according to research published in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Kimberly Coleman-Phox, of Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland, and colleagues conducted a case-control study involving mothers of 185 infants who died with a confirmed diagnosis of SIDS, matched with 312 infant controls in the same geographical area. Mothers of cases and controls answered questions about fan use and other factors during the infants' last sleep.
Fan use during sleep was associated with a lower risk of SIDS (adjusted odds ratio, 0.28), the investigators found. The use of a fan appeared to have a larger effect on lowering SIDS risk when room temperatures were warmer than 21 degrees Celsius (adjusted odds ratio, 0.06), the report indicates.
"Rebreathing" air in spaces with low dispersion of inhaled gases may be a factor in SIDS, the authors write. "It has been reported that increasing the air turbulence with a fan could prevent the accumulation of carbon dioxide in a mechanical model of infant rebreathing. Thus, it is conceivable that increasing room ventilation by using a fan helps to disperse accumulated carbon dioxide in the dead air space around the nose and mouth of infants in sleep environments that heighten the risk of rebreathing," the authors write.
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