Death of Child Raises
Parents' Risk of Dying Early
Excerpt By Patricia Reaney, Reuters Health

LONDON (Reuters) - Parents who experience the tragic death of a child are more likely to die earlier than other adults because of the stress and grief caused by their loss, according to a study.

In the study, mothers had a four-fold increase of dying from suicide or in automobile accidents within the first 4 years of losing their child, Danish researchers said on Friday.

Fathers had double the normal risk.

If the child's death was unexpected and due to unnatural causes the risk of premature death for the mother was even higher.

"This causes a high-risk situation for the parents when they lose a child, and it carries a substantial increased mortality (risk), especially for mothers and especially related to unnatural causes of death," Dr. Jorn Olsen told Reuters.

The epidemiologist at the University of Aarhus said the increased risk of dying continued for the women in the study, who were 40% more likely to die within 18 years after their child than other mothers.

Fathers had a lesser risk of an early death and it was restricted to the first 4 years after a child's death.

Olsen and his team, who reported their research in The Lancet medical journal, attribute their findings to the psychological stress and grief parents experience.

"Losing a child has been classified as one of the most extreme stresses that we know of," he said.

"The most intense reactions are often seen shortly after the bereavement, with a short-term peak of mortality from unnatural causes," Olsen said.

Over the longer term, stress can cause high blood pressure which can lead to heart disease, increased susceptibility to infectious illnesses and changes in lifestyle such as smoking and alcohol consumption that can contribute to earlier natural or unnatural deaths.

"Our results showed that, overall, the death of a child aged younger than 18 years increased maternal mortality from all causes," said Olsen.

"There is a tendency that the older the child (at the time of death) the stronger is the effect that we see."

The researchers used Danish death registries from 1980 to 1996 to compare data on 20,000 parents who had lost a child and 293,000 parents who had not. They followed up both groups for a maximum of 18 years.

Reference Source 89

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