We have published a number of studies recently regarding safe sleep for infants to protect babies from a tragic sleep-related death. While we know the importance of putting babies on their backs to sleep and not co-sleeping with infants to reduce their risk of an unexpected death, we may not have reflected on whether different sleep settings may present different risk factors.
Fortunately Kassa et al. (10.1542/peds.2016-1124) have looked cross-sectionally at deaths that occur when an infant is placed down for sleep using a national child fatality database analyzed over ten years involving sadly more than 11,700 infant deaths. In-home versus out-of-home locations were compared in regard to known risk factors for a sleep-related death. The results will certainly keep you wide awake as they define increased and differing risk factors for these two locations. For example, being in a prone position or being in a stroller or car seat increased the odds of death when an infant was asleep outside the home, although a co-sleeping situation or death in a crib or bassinet was less common in an out-of-home setting,
To identify other risk factors for unexpected infant death, (some similar and others quite different for in-home and out-of-home settings), read this study and then share it with the parents of your youngest patients so they and their baby can sleep even more safely and soundly.