Most vulnerable babies, however, appear perfectly healthy.
3. The third element involves exogenous stressors, outside environmental challenges which a normal baby can overcome and survive, that a vulnerable baby might not. Stressors such as second-hand exposure to tobacco smoke, prone sleep position, an upper respiratory infection, or air pollution (PM10) alone do not cause the death for the infant, but can tip the balance against an infant's chances of survival.(Woodruff).
After controlling for maternal smoking, poverty, age of mother, temperature and other potentially confounding factors, Woodruff and coworkers found a statistically significant relationship between airborne particle pollution and SIDS in the United States. The study included deaths that occurred between the ages of 28 to 364 days in approximately 4 million infants born in 86 metropolitan areas in the United States between 1989 and 1991. Based on the this study the Environmental Working Group and .
Physicians for Social Responsibility estimated that about 500 SIDS cases each year are associated with air borne particle pollution. The information from this study was used in July 1997, by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt new regulations that would cut air pollution levels in half over the next ten years. Congress and the polluting industries are fighting to overturn the regulations and block the new health standards.
The relationship between SIDS cases and airborne particle pollution was used to predict SIDS cases in metropolitan areas in the United States. Nearly one out of every five SIDS deaths in the top twelve metro areas is associated with air pollution. The greater Los Angeles, New York and Chicago areas lead the nation with an estimated 44, 28 and 27 cases associated with microscopic airborne particles each year. Nationwide out of the 500 estimated SIDS deaths due to airborne particle pollution each year, California leads all states with an estimated 93, followed by Texas with 37 and Illinois with 32.
