Study Finds SIDS Claims Disproportionate Number Of Black Babies

A study of St. Louis area children dying of sudden infant death syndrome or accidental suffocation shows a disporportionately high percentage are black. The study done by Washington University and St. Louis University finds 68 percent of those deaths between 1994 and 1997 were African-American. African-Americans are 22 perecent of the population of St. Louis City and County. One of the researchers has told the St.Louis Post-Dispatch one reason for the disparity is that 79 percent of African-American children slept on things other than baby beds or cribs -compared to 46 percent of caucasian babies.