Increased mortality in parents bereaved in the first year of their child's life

BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2011 Dec;1(3):306-9. doi: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2011-000025. Epub 2011 Sep 7.

Abstract

Objective: To identify the relative risk (RR) of mortality in bereaved parents compared with non-bereaved counterparts.

Design: Retrospective data linkage study.

Setting: United Kingdom, 1971-2006.

Participants: A random sample from death registrations (5%) of parents who had a live birth where the infant lived beyond its first year of life (non-bereaved parents) and parents who had experienced a stillbirth or the death of a child in its first year of life (bereaved parents) between 1971 and 2006.

Main outcome measures: Death or widowhood of the parent.

Results: Bereaved parents in Scotland (n=738) were more than twice as likely to die in the first 15 years after their child's death than non-bereaved parents (n=50 132), p<0.005. Bereaved mothers in England and Wales (n=481) were more than four times as likely to die in the first 15 years after their child's birth than non-bereaved parents (n=30 956), p<0.001. The mortality risk for bereaved mothers compared with non-bereaved mothers, followed up for 25 years after death, was 1.5 (bereaved n=745, non-bereaved n=36 434), p<0.005. When followed up for 35 years, the risk of mortality for bereaved mothers (n=1120) was 1.2 times that of non-bereaved mothers (n=36 062), p<0.005.

Conclusions: Bereaved parents who experience stillbirth or infant death have markedly increased mortality compared with non-bereaved parents, up to 25 years (mean) after the death of their child. However, the RR reduces over time.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Bereavement*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant Death*
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Information Storage and Retrieval
  • Male
  • Mortality*
  • Parents*
  • Pregnancy
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk
  • Stillbirth*
  • United Kingdom
  • Young Adult