Wanaporn Anuntaseree

Factors associated with bed sharing and sleep position in Thai neonates

BACKGROUND Sleep in a supine position and in a bed separate from but proximate to adults is recommended, in several Western countries, to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Cultural differences and a lower rate of SIDS in Asian populations may affect concern with this problem and thus infant sleeping arrangements. Objective To study bed sharing and sleep position in Thai neonates and the relationship to infant and maternal characteristics. METHODS A cross-sectional survey based on interviews with parents of infants aged 21 days old, was conducted under the Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children. RESULTS Of the total sample, 2236/3692 (60.6%) infants shared a bed with their parents. Sixty per cent of the parents placed their infants to sleep in a supine position, 32.2% on their side and 4.9% in a prone position. Bed sharing was associated with older maternal age, higher education, Muslim mother, and with work status of professional career or unemployed. Placing the infants to sleep in a prone position was associated with infant birth weight of greater than 2500 g, older maternal age, higher education, Buddhist mother, mother with professional career and middle-class household economic status. CONCLUSIONS Infant bed sharing is a common practice in the Thai culture, as in other Asian countries. The prone sleep position is less common than in Western populations. The main factor associated with both bed sharing and putting infants to sleep in the prone position was a higher maternal socioeconomic status (SES), in contrast to previous studies in some Western countries in which both practices were associated with low maternal SES. Cultural differences may play an important role in these different findings.

Prevalence and associated factors of passive smoking in Thai infants

BACKGROUND Passive smoking or exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is associated with an increased risk of several respiratory illnesses for infants. OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence and the associated factors of ETS exposure in Thai infants. METHODS A cross-sectional survey based on interviews with parents of infants aged 1 year old, conducted during October 2001-August 2003, under the Prospective Cohort study of Thai Children. RESULTS A total of 3256 parents (76.7% of eligible subjects) provided the required information. The prevalences of father or mother smoking in the same room as the infants were 35.1 and 0.3% respectively. Smoking in the presence of an infant was significantly associated with paternal age of 25-34 or more than 44 years, education at or less than secondary school, and a Muslim father. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that ETS exposure is common in Thai infants and the main source of exposure is from a smoking father. This finding is different from other studies in Western countries where both the father and mother made substantial contributions to infant exposure to ETS. Interventions should be considered to reduce infant exposure to ETS.

Tuberculosis of the thymus in a 6-month-old infant with literature review.

Tuberculosis of the thymus is very uncommon. Most previously reported cases have involved adolescents or adults. Herein, we report a case of tuberculosis of the thymus diagnosed in a 6-month-old infant, presenting with progressive dyspnea and a mediastinal mass. Both clinical and radiologic findings were nonspecific, while pathologic findings confirmed thymic tissue with massive caseous granulomas consistent with tuberculosis.

Prospective cohort study on change in weight status and occurrence of habitual snoring in children

To determine the association between the change in weight status and newly developed snoring in children.