A baby's sleep position is the best predictor of a misshapen skull condition known as deformational plagiocephaly – or the development of flat spots on an infant's head. Photo Credit: AFPNovember 19, 2009, (Sawf News) - A baby's sleep position is the best predictor of a misshapen skull condition known as deformational plagiocephaly – or the development of flat spots on an infant's head.
Analyzing the largest database to date, more than 20,000 children, according to findings reported by Arizona State University scientists in the December issue of the journal, Pediatrics found that the number of babies who have developed flat-headedness has dramatically increased since 1992. The increase coincides with the American Academy of Pediatrics launch of a "Back to Sleep" educational campaign that recommended parents place their infants on their backs to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
"We looked at a number of risk factors, but the largest factor was the sleep position of the baby," said Brian Verrelli, an assistant professor in ASU's School of Life Sciences and researcher in the Center for Evolutionary Functional Genomics at the Biodesign Institute.
The condition is thought to occur when babies spend too much time in one position, which specifically means the way the head is positioned. Babies who slept on their right-side or left-side tended to have right-side and left-side flat spots, respectively.
The study, "Risk Factors Associated With Deformational Plagiocephaly," also found that boys were twice as likely as girls to have the condition (a nearly perfect 2-to-1 ratio) and also more common in firstborn infants, babies with low birth weight, in breech and transverse positions in the womb, and in multiple births, specifically fraternal twins.
The study was designed to statistically evaluate the independent and interacting effects of biological and environmental risk factors that lead to deformational plagiocephaly, in an attempt to provide future guidance for clinical treatment.
"The unprecedented size of the sample in our study allowed us to identify potential factors, such as maternal prenatal conditions and low birth weight, that were previously unrecognized in smaller cohort studies. These other factors need to be explored further before we can begin to piece together the entire puzzle," said Jessica Joganic, who was an ASU undergraduate student at the time. She is the lead author on the study.
However, independent of the biological and environmental factors, the findings showed that sleep position was the best predictor of deformational plagiocephaly, and one that could be addressed by altering behavior, according to Verrelli.
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