One in 25 Dads Isn’t Biological Father, British Study Shows

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) — One in 25 dads may unknowingly be raising another man’s child, according to a study by British researchers published in next month’s issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Researchers at John Moores University in Liverpool, England based their findings on a review of medical and social science research spanning more than 50 years. They determined that rates of paternal discrepancy, or PD, where a father is not the biological parent of his child, range from 0.8 percent to as much as 30 percent, with a median of 3.7 percent.

PD is generally a result of unprotected sex and multiple partners and typically associated with a woman having an affair outside marriage. The number of cases recorded is rising because of an increase in situations in which genetic discrepancies can be detected such as organ donation, male infertility treatment, screening for diseases and DNA profiling during police, judicial and emergency investigations, researchers said.

“Our approach to PD cannot be simply to ignore this difficult issue but must be informed by what best protects the health of those affected,” the study’s lead author Mark Bellis of the John Moores University’s Center for Public Health said in the study.

Finding out that a child being raised as biological progeny is actually sired by another man can affect the father’s health, the child’s, his partner’s and the biological parent’s health, Bellis said.

The number of paternity testing in North America and Europe has been soaring. The rates more than doubled to 310,490 between 1991 and 2001 in the U.S., according to the study.

Fathers unsure whether a child is their own may visit a clinic or order a testing kit via the internet, and provide samples such as cheek swabs, hair follicles from themselves and the child in question.

“Given developing roles for individual’s genetics in decisions made by health services, private services, for example, insurance, and even in personal lifestyle decisions, the dearth of intelligence on how and when PD should be exposed urgently needs addressing,” Bellis said in the study.

About a third of pregnancies are unplanned, and about one in five women in long-term relationships has had an affair in the U.K., according to the study.