Posted: December 8, 2005 at 6:30 p.m.

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) -- There's more evidence suggesting that a pacifier can dramatically reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

A National Institutes of Health and Kaiser Permanente study has found that infants who used a pacifier during sleep had a 90-percent reduction in SIDS risk.

The researchers examined SIDS case files and interviewed the parents in each case. The study compared the infants who died of SIDS to a group of healthy infants with similar characteristics.

The findings bolster previous studies that had similar results, and a recent American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to offer a pacifier to babies at nap time or bed time.

The study will be published in the British Medical Journal online.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)