INTRODUCTION
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs) are poorly understood. Monitoring SUID trends may identify opportunities to reduce infant deaths. An analysis of US SUID trends between 2015 and 2020 showed the SUID rate increased in 2020 among non-Hispanic Black (NHB) infants but not among other racial and ethnic infant groups.1 We build on this previous study1 by adding new years of mortality data (2021–2022) to monitor changes in SUID rates in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and changing SUID reporting practices.
We analyzed data from the 2015 to 2022 US period-linked birth and infant death files to calculate yearly SUID rates overall, by cause, and by single race and ethnicity; 2022 data are the most recent available.2 Methods for calculating SUID rates and categorizing race and ethnicity mirrored previously described methods.1 SUID included SIDS (International Classification of Diseases,…