Sudden deaths among infants in the U.S. are rising, a new study shows. Researchers have found that the mortality rate of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) has increased in recent years, even as infant deaths generally have declined.
Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University conducted the study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The research found that the annual death rate of SUID has significantly risen since 2020, despite an overall decrease in infant mortality dating back two decades. The researchers speculate that an increase in opioid use, respiratory infections like covid-19, or certain social media trends may be contributing to the rise.
SUID is a broad term that covers accidental strangulations, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and other unknown causes of infant death. Though the exact mechanisms behind SIDS/SUID are still unclear, these deaths often occur in infants sleeping or laying on a bed. And it’s known that certain sleeping positions—particularly sleeping on the stomach—can raise the risk of SIDS. Following the introduction of public health campaigns that emphasized safer sleep practices in the 1990s, rates of SIDS in the U.S. declined substantially. Lately, though, data has suggested that cases of SIDS/SUID may be climbing back up.
In 2023, the same VCU researchers published a study that looked at SUID rates between 2015 and 2020, using mortality data obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They found that the rate had increased significantly among black infants between 2019 and 2020. In this new study, the researchers were able to examine more recent data, up through 2022.
Overall, they found that the infant mortality rate in general had steadily declined between 1999 and 2022. But the mortality rate for SUIDS significantly rose by roughly 11% between 2020 and 2022. In total, according to the CDC, there were around 3,700 deaths from SUID in 2022, including about 1,500 deaths from SIDS. Unlike the 2023 study, the researchers found that this increase in SUID was not isolated to a single demographic. That said, they did still find significant disparities, with the overall mortality rate of SUID higher among Native American, Black, and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander infants compared to white or Asian infants.
“Although a prior CDC study—using data until 2020—found that sudden unexpected infant death was increasing for Black infants, this new study—adding data from 2021 and 2022—found that the rise is more generalized and occurred in infants overall,” said lead researcher Elizabeth Wolf, an associate professor in the VCU School of Medicine’s department of pediatrics, in a statement from the university.
Though this study itself can’t untangle the specific reasons for the increase, Wolf and her colleagues do offer some possible explanations. A rise in opioid use among mothers, for instance, or the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic could be factors, they argue. Another factor could be the messaging that new parents are now getting exposed to through social media.
“In social media posts, infants can be seen in unsafe sleep positions, for example on their stomach instead of on their back, and in unsafe sleep environments such as adult beds, couches and baby swings,” Wolf said.
While only some cases of SUID may be truly preventable, the researchers say that more has to be done to ensure that families are getting the education needed to lower their children’s risk of it, along with stricter regulation of products that could be potentially dangerous to sleeping infants. In 2023, for instance, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued an public service announcement warning parents to stay away from weighted blanket products advertised for infants.
