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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter August 5, 2021

Impact of paternal presence and parental social-demographic characteristics on birth outcomes

  • Amruta A. Bamanikar , Shetal Shah , David Aboudi , Soumya Mikkilineni , Clare Giblin , Tessa Lavan and Heather L. Brumberg EMAIL logo

Abstract

Objectives

Maternal race, marital status, and social environment impact risk of preterm delivery and size for gestational age. Although some paternal characteristics such as age are associated with pregnancy outcomes, the influence of the paternal presence, race/ethnicity and adverse life events is not well known. The objective of the study was to assess birth outcomes in mothers with a paternal presence compared to those without during the post-partum period. The secondary aim was to determine whether paternal race is associated with birth outcomes.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study using parental surveys linked with birth certificate data from 2016 to 2018. Adverse birth composite outcomes (ABCO) including small for gestational age (SGA), prematurity or neonatal intensive care unit admission (NICU) were assessed.

Results

A total of 695 parents were analyzed (239 single mothers and 228 mother-father pairs). Compared to mothers with a father present, mothers without a father present exhibited increased odds of ABCO, prematurity and NICU. Non-Hispanic Black fathers had increased odds of ABCO and NICU compared to Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). Hispanic fathers had increased odds of NICU compared to NHW.

Conclusions

Paternal absence in the post-partum period and paternal race were both independently associated with ABCO and NICU. Assessment of paternal presence and paternal race in clinical practice may help identify opportunities for additional support necessary to optimize birth outcomes.

Keywords: outcomes; paternal; race

Corresponding author: Heather L. Brumberg, MD, MPH, FAAP, Department of Pediatrics, The Regional Neonatal Center, Division of Newborn Medicine, Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College, 100 Woods Road, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA, Phone: +1 (914) 493 8491, Fax: +1 (914) 493 1005, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the mothers and fathers who took the time to participate in this study. We also would like to thank the following medical student research assistants: Christopher Stoll, Daniel Schwab, Brian Hanyok, Brian Yost, Mayra Ramirez, Jennifer Kutt, Dana Greene, Sarah Spiegel, Amythis Soltani, Mohammed Alzoobaee, Janki Shah, Bianca Zapanta, Maliha Rahman, Bryony Lucas.

  1. Research funding: None declared

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest and no financial interests.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: Research involving human subjects complied with all relevant national regulations, institutional policies and is in accordance with the tenets of the Helsinki Declaration (as revised in 2013), and has been approved by the authors' Institutional Review Board.

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Received: 2021-02-11
Accepted: 2021-06-30
Published Online: 2021-08-05
Published in Print: 2021-11-25

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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