A Statistical Analysis of a Screening Tool for Infant Safe Sleep Practices

Abstract

Sleep-related infant deaths occur at a rate of approximately 3,500/year in the US. Many of these deaths could have been avoided had a safe sleeping environment been provided. Unsafe practices include bed sharing, using loose bedding, and exposure to smoking, among others. The focus of this project was to improve screening for unsafe sleep practices. In 2018, patients at a pediatric practice were assessed with the CDC’s pregnancy risk assessment monitoring system (PRAMS) questions focused on infant sleep. At well-child checks (WCC) between birth and 6 months, caregivers were assessed with the PRAMS questions and were then given education specific to needs identified by the screening. One week after the WCC, participants received a phone call (CB) to identify whether changes were successful. During the CB, caregivers were rescreened with the PRAMS questions. Data were also mined from the same pediatric practice concerning caregivers who were not screened with the PRAMS questions (control group). We hypothesize that the use of the PRAMS questions will identify significantly more unsafe sleep practices, and that the education on safe sleep will significantly reduce the number of unsafe sleep practices. To address these hypotheses, chi-square tests and generalized estimating equations were used to determine if there are any relationships between unsafe sleep practices and variables including but not limited to socioeconomics, parental age, and infant age. Addition