Hua Chen1, Tomas Hemmingsson, Yvonne Forsell, Mikael Rostila, Imre Janszky, Krisztina D László. 1. From the Department of Global Public Health (Chen, Forsell, Janszky, László), Karolinska Institutet; Department of Public Health Sciences (Hemmingsson, Rostila), Stockholm University; Institute of Environmental Medicine (Hemmingsson), Karolinska Institutet; Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine (Forsell), Stockholm County Council, Stockholm; Centre for Health Equity Studies (Rostila), Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; and Department of Public Health and General Practice, Faculty of Medicine (Janszky), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The death of a parent during childhood is a severe life event with potentially long-term consequences. Earlier studies have shown an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) after the death of a spouse, child, or sibling. Whether parental death during childhood is associated with an increased risk of incident CVD is unknown and was investigated in this study. METHODS: We studied 48,992 men born 1949 to 1951 and enlisted for military conscription in 1969 to 1970. We obtained information on death of a parent during childhood, CVD up to 2008, and covariates by linking the questionnaire and the clinical examination data from conscription with nationwide socioeconomic and health registers. RESULTS: Men who lost a parent during childhood had an increased risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD; adjusted hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.30 [1.13-1.49]) but not of stroke during the 39-year follow-up (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 0.87 [0.66-1.15]). Maternal death was associated with IHD both when the loss was due to cardiovascular (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 2.04 [1.02-4.08]) and unnatural causes (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 2.50 [1.42-4.42]); in case of paternal death, an increased IHD risk was observed only when the loss was due to cardiovascular causes (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 1.82 [1.37-2.42]). There were no substantial differences in CVD according to the child's age at the loss. CONCLUSIONS: Parental death during childhood was associated with an increased risk of IHD in men. If these associations are confirmed in future studies, the long-term effects of childhood bereavement may warrant attention.
OBJECTIVE: The death of a parent during childhood is a severe life event with potentially long-term consequences. Earlier studies have shown an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) after the death of a spouse, child, or sibling. Whether parental death during childhood is associated with an increased risk of incident CVD is unknown and was investigated in this study. METHODS: We studied 48,992 men born 1949 to 1951 and enlisted for military conscription in 1969 to 1970. We obtained information on death of a parent during childhood, CVD up to 2008, and covariates by linking the questionnaire and the clinical examination data from conscription with nationwide socioeconomic and health registers. RESULTS:Men who lost a parent during childhood had an increased risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD; adjusted hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.30 [1.13-1.49]) but not of stroke during the 39-year follow-up (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 0.87 [0.66-1.15]). Maternal death was associated with IHD both when the loss was due to cardiovascular (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 2.04 [1.02-4.08]) and unnatural causes (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 2.50 [1.42-4.42]); in case of paternal death, an increased IHD risk was observed only when the loss was due to cardiovascular causes (adjusted HR [95% CI] = 1.82 [1.37-2.42]). There were no substantial differences in CVD according to the child's age at the loss. CONCLUSIONS: Parental death during childhood was associated with an increased risk of IHD in men. If these associations are confirmed in future studies, the long-term effects of childhood bereavement may warrant attention.
Authors: Hua Chen; Jiong Li; Dang Wei; Mikael Rostila; Imre Janszky; Yvonne Forsell; Tomas Hemmingsson; Krisztina D László Journal: JAMA Netw Open Date: 2022-06-01
Authors: Hua Chen; Tomas Hemmingsson; Imre Janszky; Mikael Rostila; Yvonne Forsell; Linghui Meng; Yajun Liang; Krisztina D László Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2021-04-26 Impact factor: 2.692