Tippecanoe County review team shares latest data on infant fatality, suicides

LAFAYETTE, Ind. —  Thirty one children died in Tippecanoe County between 2020 and 2022, reported a review team addressing the reasons for infant and child fatalities, noting an increase in suicide among teens and adolescents.

The Tippecanoe County Local Child Fatality Review Team held a presentation Tuesday to review their latest finding with the public.

Notably, there were two major trends that the review team noticed in regards to child fatalities — an increase in suicide among teens and adolescents and positional asphyxiation-related deaths among infants.

Between 2020 to 2022, the county recorded eight deaths in 2020, 14 deaths in 2021 and nine deaths in 2022.

Among the 31 deaths, 10 of those deaths were a result of positional asphyxiation and four were related to suicide.

The review team noted that the rise of positional asphyxiation-related deaths was alarming since prior to 2020, these numbers were seeing a significant decrease as hospital staff provided parents with information related to newborn safety.

“It seems to me that in 2020, 2021 and 2022," said Elyse Madigan, Tippecanoe County deputy prosecutor, "that positional asphyxiation went up again, and I know a lot of the discussion amongst team members and with local and statewide leaders in the department of health have been trying to determine if it was COVID-related."

During the pandemic, in an effort to help reduce the spread of COVID, healthcare providers tried to limit the number of time patients needed to spend within healthcare facilities.

One potential unforeseen consequence of this practice may have been that new families may not have received the same amount of information they would have in prior years regarding newborn safety habits, and in turn leading to an increase in positional asphyxiation-related deaths, Madigan said.

The county continues to research what may have caused this spike in deaths between 2020 to 2022.

Overall, the state of Indiana still sees a higher average of sudden unexpected infant deaths compared to the national average. According to data showcased at Tuesday's meeting, for every 1,000 live births in 2020, about 5.4 children would die nationally. Within Indiana, this average jumps up to 6.6 deaths per 1,000.

For the past decade, Indiana has averaged about one additional death compared to the national average, specifically spiking in 2011, where the state saw 7.7 children dying per 1,000, while the national average at the time was 6.1 per 1,000.

“As I’ve mentioned for years, Indiana has higher rates of dead between infants and sudden unexpected infant deaths than the national average. We’re consistently above average,” said Madigan.

The Tippecanoe County Local Child Fatality Review Team was created in fall of 2013 after Indiana lawmakers created legislation to address the high infant fatalities across the state.

Between the years 2015-2019, the state recorded around 518 infant-related deaths.

When broken down per county, Tippecanoe County is tied as the sixth highest county in the state for the rate of sudden unexpected infant deaths, with an average of 14.3 deaths per 10,000 births.

Delaware county sits at the top of the list, averaging 28.5 deaths per 10,000 births.

In hopes of reducing these numbers, the county review team provides as much information as possible to new parents and families with newborns.

Many of these deaths are preventable, the panel addressed, and the review team provided a list of recommendations that could help inform new parents.

The team recommends that parents should not allow infants to sleep in a bed with adults or children, due to a myriad of risks.

Instead, the Tippecanoe County Local Child Fatality Review Team recommends that families should always place their infant in a crib with a firm mattress. The team also recommends that parents should consider sleeping in the same room as their infant in order to keep a watchful eye over them.

The Tippecanoe County Local Child Fatality Review Team recommends that parents should not have any additional toys or blankets in the crib until the infant is at least a year old. Due to the infant's lack of mobility, an infant could potentially cover his or her face, leading to difficulty in breathing.

The Tippecanoe County Local Child Fatality Review Team also recommends that parents should use pacifiers to help prevent infants from putting anything in their mouth.

Growing number of adolescent and teen suicides

Although Tuesday’s meeting was geared at addressing infant fatalities, the Tippecanoe County Local Child Fatality Review Team is aware of the growing issues with suicide among young children.

The review team offered similar informational sessions about suicide prevention in the past, but with the recent increase in related deaths, the Tippecanoe County Local Child Fatality Review Team llooked into providing the community with additional preventative information.

“What we’ve seen, which I think is somewhat alarming to me are kids like 11-year-olds and 12-year-olds (committing suicide),” Madigan said.

“I would say it is amongst older children and that it has becoming more prevalent," Madigan added, "and it’s hard to say what the root of that issue is.

“But that’s part of the initiative we’re trying to implement with the fetal mortality review team and mental health of America, because if when. For surviving children, siblings and family members to try and get counseling to prevent another incident within the same families or same communities.”

Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter at 1NoePadilla.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: County review team shares new data on infant fatality, youth suicides