The risk for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, was nearly 12 times higher in infants with mothers who both smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol beyond the first trimester of pregnancy, according to a study published in EClinicalMedicine.

“This study highlights the heightened risk of dual exposures to prenatal smoking and drinking as risk factors for SIDS, particularly beyond the first trimester,” Amy J. Elliott, PhD, chief clinical research officer at the Avera Health Center for Pediatric & Community Research in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, told Healio Primary Care. “These prenatal risk factors for SIDS can be addressed early in pregnancy and open the opportunity for discussion, support and intervention to help women have a healthy pregnancy and infant.”