Infant Transition From Car Bed to Car Safety Seat

May 9, 2017 updated by: Lawrence Rhein, Boston Children's Hospital

A Prospective Examination of Infant Transition From Car Bed to Car Safety Seat

This research study has been developed to obtain preliminary information about safe timing of the transition of infants from car beds to car seats, and to find out if initial failure of the car seat challenge is associated with small jaw size or increased respiratory illness.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Studies show that car seats can directly reduce injury in motor vehicle accidents. Unfortunately, some premature and term infants have trouble breathing from the semi-upright seating position in car seats. As a result, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends car seat challenge testing for at-risk infants, including all children born at less than 37 weeks gestation and other high risk newborns such as those with a history of breathing problems and/or low tone. Infants who fail the car seat test are discharged home in car beds. However, guidelines regarding timing of repeat car seat testing or safe transition back to a car seat are currently unavailable.

At present there is no system for continued evaluation of infants sent home in car beds. In addition, it is not known when it is safe to transition infants from their car bed to a car seat. Infants transitioned too early may still have breathing problems and those transitioned too late may be at risk for injury in the event of a crash. Due to these reasons it is important to find out when it is safe to transition infants from the car bed to a car seat

Moreover, it has recently been shown that some infants with apparent life threatening events (ALTE), have a smaller jaw size than their peers that did not have an ALTE. ALTEs can occur when infants are in their car seats. No studies have been found that looked to see if infants with breathing problems in their car seats also have small jaws. Furthermore no studies have looked to see if infants who fail their initial car seat challenge are at greater risk for respiratory illness during their first year of life.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

96

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
        • Children's Hosptital, Boston

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

1 day to 1 year (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

At-risk infants, including all children born at less than 37 weeks gestation and other high risk newborns such as those with a history of breathing problems and/or low tone.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All infants who visit Children's Hospital Boston, Center for Healthy Infant Lung Development for follow up car seat testing

Exclusion Criteria:

  • None

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
at-risk infants
Includes all children born at less than 37 weeks gestation and other high risk newborns such as those with a history of breathing problems and/or low tone.
Collect information about car seat testing of infants (until he/she transitions to a car seat), measure the infant's jaw during the first visit using a tape measure 18 different ways by Dr. Rhein or a trained research assistant, and complete a parent questionnaire about car bed use, previous testing of the infant in his/her car seat and information about the infant's home environment such as cigarette smoking, number of other children and daycare arrangements for the infant during the infant's first visit to the clinic. This short questionnaire asks information about car bed use, previous testing of your infant in his/her car seat and information about your home environment such as cigarette smoking, number of other children at your home and daycare arrangements for your infant.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 7, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

April 7, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 5, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 5, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

August 6, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 11, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 9, 2017

Last Verified

May 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • X08-03-0176

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Car Seat Transition for At-risk Infants

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