Editor,—In the paper by Mitchellet al the use of duvets was associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) on univariate (odds ratio 1.65 (95% confidence interval 1.31, 2.08)) but not multivariate analysis, and the SIDS risk associated with duvet use was not modified by sleeping position.1 These findings contrast with our finding of a strong association (adjusted odds ratio 6.16 (2.01, 18.87)) between quilt (duvet) use and SIDS among non-prone infants.2

Mitchell et al postulated that one reason for the discrepancy may be that our Tasmanian study had not controlled for socioeconomic factors. We did, in fact, adjust for a large number of additional potential confounders that could not be listed in the short report due to space limitations. We found that adjustment for unemployment, maternal education, or maternal parity did not alter the association between duvet use and SIDS among non-prone infants. We agree that the conflicting …