AFTER a steady decrease every year over the previous five years, the number of cot deaths rose in 1996.
A total of 45 babies died as a result of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in 1996. This was an increase of 23 per cent on the previous year, and represents one per 1,000.
The numbers fell by 70 per cent between 1989 and 1993, according to Prof Tom Matthews, Professor of Paediatrics in UCD. This was due to the public responding to campaigns to place babies on their backs rather than their stomachs, and to avoid allowing them to get too hot.
Cot deaths are also associated with one or both parents smoking, and with social deprivation, Prof Matthews said. In 78 per cent of cot deaths the parents smoked, and in 80 per cent they were medical card holders.
Despite efforts by the Irish Sudden Infant Death Association, no progress had been made in reducing the level of smoking among pregnant mothers and the parents of babies, he said.
Asked why the number of cot deaths had risen last year, he said that data drawn from the register of cot deaths supported by the Department of Health were still being analysed, and would be available shortly.
However, his impression from working in the Rotunda Hospital was that there was an increase in the level of social deprivation among certain groups. "For example, there was a 7 per cent premature birth rate in the Rotunda last year, which was up from previous years. It would be about 1 per cent in Mount Carmel."
Ireland is one of only about four countries which have a register of cot deaths. This has been compiled since 1992, and allows all unexplained infant deaths to be notified to the Department of Health, and the circumstances recorded. This means that data are collected which can be examined to analyse the causes.