SIDS Called Main Killer of Babies Over 1 Month Old in Industrial West

Sudden infant death syndrome is the main cause of death in babies more than a month old in Western industrialized countries, a British charity said Wednesday. Although SIDS occurs only in the first year of life, it kills more children under age 15 than road accidents, leukemia or any other form of cancer, according to the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths.

A campaign in Britain in 1995 to reduce the risk of SIDS by advising parents to lay sleeping babies on their backs rather than their stomachs resulted in a 50% decline in SIDS deaths in just 12 months. But the charity said SIDS deaths in England, Wales and Northern Ireland rose last year.