New study shows many fathers die after childbirth in preventable ways

A large Georgia study found that 60% of fathers who died within five years of their child's birth were lost to potentially preventable causes such as homicide, accidents, suicide, and overdose. Researchers examined records for 130,267 babies born in 2017 and tracked the fathers through 2022. During that period, 796 fathers died from various reasons.

The preventable deaths included homicide, accidental injury, suicide, and drug overdose. Specific counts showed 143 homicides, 142 accidental injuries, 102 suicides, and 93 overdoses. Another 296 fathers died from natural causes that were not classified as preventable in this context.

While maternal mortality is widely recognized as an urgent public health problem, the deaths of fathers have attracted far less scrutiny. Scientists at Northwestern University say paternal mortality has received little comparable attention to maternal reviews. They call this lack of tracking a major blind spot in public health systems.

Despite these risks, researchers also uncovered a seemingly contradictory finding about fatherhood itself. Being a father was associated with lower overall death rates among men in Georgia between 2017 and 2022. Fathers consistently had lower mortality rates than men who were not fathers among those older than 20.

For example, among men aged 30 to 34, the death rate for Georgia fathers was 120 deaths per 100,000 men compared with 231 deaths per 100,000 among men who were not fathers. Dr. Craig Garfield stated that being a father appears to be protective in this particular group of men. Researchers do not know if this is due to changes in lifestyle or a new purpose.

Deaths from non-natural causes were more common among younger fathers. Births paid for by Medicaid and unmarried status were associated with a greater risk of homicide. Fathers who died were also more likely to have been older, non-Hispanic Black, unmarried, living in rural areas and connected with Medicaid-paid births.

Dr. Garfield, a pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, said his experiences with families helped motivate the research. He has encountered numerous mothers coping with the sudden death of their partner from causes such as shootings and car accidents. He noted that the death of any parent has enormous consequences for a child.

A similar nationwide analysis is not currently possible because of limitations in how birth and death data are handled nationally. States collect detailed records, but when compiled nationally, personally identifiable information is removed. That makes it impossible to connect individual fathers with specific causes of death for a national study.

Garfield and his colleagues were able to study Georgia because they had access to the state's data through an existing project called PRAMS for Dads survey. This system allowed them to develop a first pilot in Georgia in 2018. Garfield hopes other states will conduct similar analyses of their own records eventually.