by Dr Jim Sprott
The New Zealand cot death rate has dropped markedly, especially among pakeha [non-Maori] families, since the mattress-wrapping campaign began in 1994.
In October 1997 the Minister of Health stated that: "Pakeha New Zealand is getting [cot death] under control". This is the first such statement from the Ministry of Health.
Cot death rates are expressed as deaths per 1000 live births. In 1992 the overall New Zealand rate (i.e. across pakeha, Maori and Pacific Island communities) was about 2.0 deaths per 1000 live births; in 1993 it was about 2.1 deaths; and in 1994 it was between 2.1 and 2.5 deaths (statistics vary for the 1994 figure). The figure was therefore static, or rising slightly, for a number of years.
In 1994 even the pakeha cot death rate (the lowest of the rates for the three ethnic groups) was 1.5 deaths per 1000 live births - i.e. well above most other countries, including Australia, Canada, Britain, USA, Japan, etc.
On 29 January 1997 and again on 12 February, Mrs Carole Everard (then National Co-ordinator of the New Zealand Cot Death Association) stated that pakeha cot death was now "very rare". Her source of information was a nationwide network which she had established. In August 1997 Mrs Everard told the New Zealand Woman's Weekly that the pakeha cot death rate was now "significantly low".
As stated above, this has now been confirmed by the Minister of Health.
From 1.5 deaths per 1000 live births in 1994 (one of the highest rates in the world) to "very rare" at the beginning of 1997 is a dramatic decrease in the pakeha cot death rate.
The recent drop in the pakeha rate cannot be attributed to the public advice disseminated by the NZ Cot Death Association or the Ministry of Health. That advice has not materially altered since 1990. The only significant change in cot death prevention advice which has occurred since 1994 is the nationwide dissemination of my recommendations to wrap babies' mattresses and to stop using sheepskins as baby bedding.
A large number of BabeSafe mattress covers and mattresses have now been sold throughout New Zealand. In addition, many parents have purchased polythene to make their own mattress wraps. In August 1996 Plunket nurses were given instructions on mattress-wrapping by their executive. The following month Dr Pat Tuohy, national paediatrician of Plunket, stated that they had received many inquiries about mattress-wrapping.
Midwives and other healthcare professionals throughout New Zealand have been actively advising parents to wrap mattresses.
There has not been one reported cot death on a BabeSafe mattress cover or mattress, or on a mattress wrapped to my specification.
Information from the Ministry of Health shows that the risk of
suffocation on a correctly wrapped mattress is so small as to
be virtually non-existent.
21 October 1997
Copyright 1997 by T. James SprottDr T. James (Jim) Sprott, OBE, Msc, PhD, FNZIC
Consulting Chemist, Forensic Scientist
10 Combes Road
Remuera, Auckland 5
New Zealand
Phone/fax: 64-9-523-1150
Email: sprott@iconz.co.nzReproduction and dissemination of this article is encouraged but written permission is required.