Living conditions in early infancy in Denmark, Norway and Sweden 1992-95: results from the Nordic Epidemiological SIDS study.

The objective was to study living conditions of infants and their families in Scandinavia in the 1990s and to assess similarities and differences among the three Scandinavian countries. The emphasis is on health and normality rather than on diseases and other deviations from well-being. The subjects are the 869 controls in the Nordic Epidemiological SIDS study carried out between 1 September 1992 and 31 August 1995 in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The controls were matched with the 244 SIDS cases for sex, age and maternity hospital. Parents of the SIDS cases and the controls filled in the same questionnaire on family, pregnancy, delivery, the neonatal and the post-perinatal period. The most striking findings were that 99% of the mothers went to regular maternity controls, 97% to well-baby clinics and 84% breastfed exclusively. On the other hand, 11% drank alcohol more than once a month during pregnancy and 29% smoked during pregnancy. Compared to official statistics, to the extent they exist, the differences were small. The material contains valuable information on normal infant care in Scandinavia in the 1990s. Living conditions of infants in Scandinavia are similar in the three countries. Differences exist, but only to a small extent.