ABSTRACT

Objective

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is unexpected and unexplained sudden death of infants under one year of age. Sleep-related infant deaths can be reduced with the safe sleep environment recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Our questionnaire, which was prepared in line with the AAP recommendations updated in 2022, aimed to evaluate the knowledge level of mothers in two provinces with different socioeconomic status in Türkiye about SIDS.

Methods

This survey was conducted in Ankara and Muş provinces among mothers whose infants were hospitalized in the ward and who volunteered to participate in the survey. The respondents were asked 22 multiple-choice questions in line with recommendations of the AAP puslished in 2022.

Results

A total of 652 mothers participated in our study. The median (minimum-maximum) age of the participants was 28 (16-47) years. While 7.2% of mothers were uneducated, 32.7% were primary school graduates, 29.3% were high school graduates, and 29.3% were university graduates. Answers to the questions about bed firmness, pillow use, bed sharing, use of bedspreads and SIDS education were found to be significantly different between the groups (p<0.05).

Conclusion

In our survey study, knowledge level of mothers about SIDS was found to be inadequate. In light of the updated recommendations, it was thought that sleep-related risk factors that cause SIDS may be reduced by providing trainings to families.