Sanford researchers awarded NIH grant to explore American Indian infant mortality

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Sanford Research’s Amy Elliott, Ph.D., and Jyoti Angal have a secured more than $1.7 million in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health to study methods to reduce infant deaths in American Indian communities.

The project, “CBPR Initiative in Reducing Infant Mortality in American Indian Communities,” received a five-year award under the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development.

According to the South Dakota Department of Health, infant mortality rates among American Indians are nearly double that of white infants. In 2013, the infant mortality rates in South Dakota were 11.2 per 1,000 live births among American Indians and 5.3 per 1,000 among the white population. This difference is largely driven by post-neonatal mortality, or infant deaths between 1 and 12 months of age. Post-neonatal mortality rates are primarily related to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), unsafe sleep environments and other environmental and preventable conditions. South Dakota’s post-neonatal mortality rate in American Indian communities was 367 percent higher than the white infant mortality rate in 2013.

Using community based participatory research methods, Elliott and her team will work with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and partners in Rapid City to identify cultural factors that affect infant sleep practices and then develop strategies for intervention that are community endorsed and culturally driven.

“We are hoping to establish a cost-effective model to decrease mortality that is also self-sustainable and can build upon current programs,” said Elliott. “Findings could also provide a model for intervention that could be applied to other high-risk communities to help prevent sudden infant death syndrome and other sleep-related deaths.”

Elliott is director of and a senior scientist at the Center for Health Outcomes and Prevention Research at Sanford Research.

About Sanford Research

Sanford Research is a non-profit research organization and is part of Sanford Health, an integrated health system headquartered in the Dakotas. Sanford represents the largest, rural, not-for-profit health care system in the nation with a presence in 111 communities, nine states and two countries. In 2007, a transformational gift of $400 million by Denny Sanford provided for an expansion of children’s and research initiatives, one of which was to find a cure for type 1 diabetes, and has given Sanford Research significant momentum in its goal of becoming one of the premiere research institutions in the United States and the world. Most recently, subsequent gifts of more than $200 million by Mr. Sanford have paved the way to establish Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Research and Sanford Imagenetics.

With a team of more than 200 researchers, Sanford Research comprises several research centers, including Children’s Health Research, Edith Sanford Breast Cancer, Cancer Biology, Center for Health Outcomes and Prevention and Sanford Sports Science Institute.