New research published in PLOS One has shown that older adults whose parents divorced when they were children may be at greater risk of having a stroke later in life.
The study included data from 13,205 adults in the U.S. who were aged 65 years or older. None of these adults had experienced abuse as children, but 13.9% reported that their parents had divorced before they turned 18 years old. Adverse childhood experiences have been previously associated with chronic health issues including strokes, but no previous studies have looked at the specific effects of parental divorce on later health outcomes.
The results showed that participants whose parents had divorced before they turned 18 years old had 1.61 times the risk of having a stroke compared to those whose parents had not divorced when they were children, or about 60% higher odds of experiencing a stroke. The association between divorce and stroke was not impacted by sex, and the study controlled for risk factors such as depression, diabetes, and social support.
The authors noted that the association between stroke risk and parental divorce in this study was quite strong, with a magnitude comparable to well-established risk factors such as diabetes and male gender. However, there were a few important limitations to consider. The conclusions from this study may not apply to younger generations, who have had greater rates of parental divorce compared to previous generations. Potential confounding factors, such as blood pressure and cholesterol, were also not available for this study. While this study did not explore causation, the authors suggested a few potential mechanisms for greater stroke risk among participants who experienced parental divorce as children. These potential mechanisms included the idea that parental divorce in childhood may contribute to chronic stress, higher blood pressure, or sleep disruption, all of which could heighten stroke risk later in life.
Sources: PLOS One, Science Daily
