Mortality after Parental Death in Childhood: a Nationwide Cohort Study from Three Nordic Countries
The death of a parent during childhood may affect the child’s health later in life, but its impact on mortality in the offspring has not been well described.
METHODS
This nationwide population-based cohort study included all children born in Denmark from 1968 to 2008 (N=2,809,393), all children born in Sweden from 1973 to 2006 (N=3,400,212), and a random sample of 89.3% of all children born in Finland from 1987 to 2007 (N=1,136,409). The study population was followed from 6 months after birth up to 42 years. We used log-linear Poisson regression to compare the mortality risk between the exposed subjects and the unexposed subjects.
RESULTS
In the total population of 7,302,033 study subjects, 189,194 (2.6%) lost a parent in childhood. The study subjects who lost a parent in childhood had a higher mortality risk during follow-up (mortality rate ratio (MRR), 1.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.43 to 1.58), compared with those who did not have such an experience. The exposed subjects whose parents died from external causes had an 84% higher all-cause mortality and those whose parents died from diseases had a 33% higher all-cause mortality than unexposed subjects. The MRRs were particularly high for some specific causes of death, such as digestive diseases, circulatory diseases, and suicide. The risks were increased shortly after parental death and remained elevated throughout the study period.
CONCLUSIONS
Parental death in childhood is associated with an increased long-term mortality from both diseases and external causes (Funded by the European Research Council and others).