Children of divorced parents at higher risk of stroke in later life
A University of Toronto study found that people whose parents divorced during childhood had a 61% higher risk of suffering a stroke later in life than those whose parents did not divorce, even without taking into account other risks, such as whether their parents had been abusive toward them.
Parental divorce's long shadow: Elevated stroke risk among older Americans | PLOS ONE
Adult children of divorced parents at higher risk of stroke, study finds
Childhood Divorce's Hidden Impact: A 60% Higher Stroke Risk
https://scitechdaily.com/childhood-divorces-hidden-impact-a-60-higher-stroke-risk/
Esme Fuller-Thomson of the University of Toronto and her colleagues focused on previous research showing that 'parental incarceration, mental illness, divorce, and sexual, physical or emotional abuse' have a negative impact on children's health. In particular, previous research has shown that women who have experienced sexual and physical abuse have a higher risk of stroke, and both men and women who have experienced abuse have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. However, they were intrigued by the fact that there were few studies comparing people who have experienced abuse with those who have not, and decided to investigate this themselves.
Thomson and his team collected medical data from people aged 65 or older living in the United States, and ultimately analyzed data from 13,205 people. Taking into account questionnaire responses such as 'Were your parents divorced before you turned 18?', they calculated the health risks of people whose parents had divorced and those who had not.
The results showed that 7.3% of people aged 65 or older had been diagnosed with a stroke. In addition, about one in seven people (13.9%) had experienced a divorce.
Next, the study found that 11.2% of respondents whose parents had divorced had been diagnosed with a stroke, compared with 7.5% of those whose parents had not divorced.
The results above already showed that people who had experienced parental divorce were more likely to suffer from stroke, but Thomson and his colleagues further excluded risk factors such as parental abuse, smoking, lack of exercise, low income, low education, diabetes, and depression from their analysis.
The results showed that people who had no risk factors but whose parents had divorced were 1.61 times more likely to suffer a stroke than people who had no risk factors and no experience of parental divorce.
'We found that even if people had no history of physical or sexual abuse during their childhood and had at least one adult they could rely on during their childhood, they were still more likely to have a stroke if their parents were divorced,' said co-author Philip Biden of the University of Texas at Arlington.
While it's unclear why there's a link between parental divorce and stroke, Thomson and his team speculate that both biological and social factors may be involved. For example, parental divorce during childhood may lead to persistent high levels of stress hormones, and such experiences as a child may have lasting effects on the developing brain and the ability to cope with stress.
Other factors that were found to be more likely to cause a stroke included being older, being male, living in a rural area, having a low income, having experienced neglect, having used drugs in the home, and having witnessed domestic violence.
For example, the stroke rate for married people was 6.7%, compared with 8.8% for widowed/widowed people and 7.9% for single or never married people, 8.5% for former smokers, and 7.1% for nonsmokers, compared with 11.2% for smokers.
'While this survey-based study cannot prove causation, we hope that it will encourage other researchers to explore this topic,' Thomson and his colleagues said. 'If future studies find a similar association between parental divorce and stroke, this could be useful in stroke prevention and treatment.'
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