POT-SMOKING DADS MAY INCREASE RISK OF SIDS

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fathers who smoke marijuana may be putting
their infants at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), a major cause
of death among infants, new research suggests.

The findings, reported in the July issue of the Archives of Pediatric and
Adolescent Medicine, show that infants of fathers who reported smoking pot
at any time after the birth were nearly three times more likely to die of
SIDS compared with infants of fathers who did not smoke. And men who smoked
during their partner's pregnancy were about twice as likely to have a child
who died of SIDS, the investigators found.

There was no independent association between a mother's recreational drug
use and SIDS in the current study, but previous research has linked a
mother's use of several drugs to SIDS. It is not clear why paternal and not
maternal drug use would increase SIDS risk, according to Dr. Hillary
Klonoff-Cohen and Phung Lam-Kruglick from the University of California, San
Diego.

The research team suggests that a larger number of men smoked marijuana and
that, compared with women, men smoked more often and for longer periods of
time.

Future research should investigate the relationship between drugs and SIDS
in a larger group of infants and take into account the frequency of drug
use and quantity consumed, the authors suggest.

"The role of paternal psychoactive drug use, especially the relationship
between marijuana and SIDS, is an understudied area; however, before any
definitive role for the father can be confirmed, these findings should be
investigated and replicated in future studies," Klonoff-Cohen and
Lam-Kruglick conclude.

The researchers examined the records of 239 children who died of SIDS
before 1 year of age and 239 healthy infants born in the same hospital and
matched for age and sex. Information on the parents' use of marijuana,
cocaine and opiates during conception, pregnancy and after birth was
obtained through telephone interviews.

The cause of SIDS, the third-leading cause of death in infants aged 1 week
to 12 months, is not known. Putting babies to sleep on their stomachs,
using soft bedding and exposing them to cigarette smoke can all increase
the risk, research has shown.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 2001;155:765-770.