Prevalence of Infant Nonsupine Sleep Position Steady From 2016 to 2022

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The overall prevalence of nonsupine sleep positions during infancy has been steady over time (2016 to 2022), according to a research letter published online Dec. 12 in JAMA Network Open.

Guodong Ding, Ph.D., M.D., from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, and colleagues analyzed temporal changes in the prevalence of nonsupine sleep position among U.S. infants at 4, 6, 9, and 12 months of age. The analysis included data from 9,396 infants identified from the National Survey of Children’s Health (2016 to 2022).

The researchers found that the overall prevalence of nonsupine sleep position was 12.0 percent at 4 months, 12.9 percent at 6 months, 19.2 percent at 9 months, and 23.0 percent at 12 months of age. Prevalence rates varied sociodemographically, with a substantially higher prevalence among Black infants and infants from low-income, low-education, and smoking households. Over time, there were no significant temporal changes in the prevalence of nonsupine sleep position across ages. At 9 and 12 months, downward trends in nonsupine sleep position expanded to other racial and ethnic groups and higher education households. At 4 months, an upward trend in nonsupine sleep position occurred among Hispanic infants.

“The overall prevalence of nonsupine sleep positions during infancy remained stable over the seven-year study period, suggesting no changes in parental behavior toward the sleep hygiene of their infants,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text