Assessing universal considerations in infant mortality across the globe: A descriptive observational study of sudden infant death syndrome knowledge and reduction coverage on YouTube

Abstract

Background: Sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) remains one of the leading causes of infant mortality worldwide and is largely driven by sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Although SIDS has received coverage and examination of content spanning Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter across the published academic literature, there is no study to date that has examined SIDS related content on YouTube. Methods: This descriptive observational study was conducted from December 2023 through January 2024 and sought to describe the sources, formats and content covered across the 100 widely viewed videos pertaining to SIDS on YouTube. Results: The majority of the videos published were by organizations (N=64) including healthcare systems, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and police departments. Several of the widely viewed SIDS-related content was disseminated by professionals (N=42). Multiple videos presented content on the symptomology pertaining to SIDS as well as contributing environmental risk factors. A wide range of resources were depicted as SIDS reduction measures. Notably, there was substantial emphasis on SIDS reduction postnatally across the widely viewed videos. There was limited representation of content on SIDS awareness and reduction outside of the United States. Conclusion: Clinical, public health, and organizational implications and recommendations are presented to inform future targets for intervention that can harness findings from this study on widely covered and uncovered content to address the totality of risk factors for SIDS. Future directions in health promotion across the SIDS reduction landscape are also reviewed to account for digital spaces globally, thereby contributing towards reducing infant mortality worldwide.

Keywords

• cot death
• crib death
• health communications
• health promotion
• infant mortality
• social media
• sudden infant death syndrome