Background: American Indian infants have a high rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). SIDS has been shown to be linked to prenatal cigarette smoking. From 12/92 to 11/96, the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board, IHS, NIH/NICHD, and CDC conducted a case-control study of infant mortality. Elders and the Medicine Wheel Coalition of medicine men were consulted, and study protocols were conducted with their support. Methods: Thirty-one cases (25 SIDS, 6 non-SIDS) from the Aberdeen study were compared with 39 non-American Indians (22 SIDS, 17 non-SIDS) from Children’s Hospital, Boston MA. We used 3H-nicotine and tissue autoradiography for the examination of 14 brainstem nuclei related and unrelated to cardiorespiratory control and arousal. Results: We hypothesized that there is an increase in brainstem nicotinic receptor binding in SIDS cases who were exposed to intrauterine cigarette smoke compared to SIDS cases not exposed and found no difference in Aberdeen or Boston cases. These results suggest that abnormal brainstem nicotine binding may not identify a SIDS subset exposed to intrauterine nicotine. The Aberdeen non-SIDS infants exposed to cigarette smoke pre-and/or postnatally have similar binding levels to those found in SIDS cases regardless of geographic origin and have lower binding levels than smoke-exposed non-SIDS cases from Boston. Discussion: Because of lack of non-SIDS, non-smoking controls it may be virtually impossible to study the effects of nicotine exposure upon brainstem mechanisms involved in infant autonomic control and arousal in the Aberdeen Area because of the high prevalence of pre- and postnatal cigarette smoke exposure.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: American Indians, Infant Mortality
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.