Odds of late-life stroke higher for those who experienced parental divorce in childhood

Key takeaways:

• Men had a 1.47 times greater risk of later-life stroke vs. women.
• Odds of stroke were higher for those aged 80 years and older compared with individuals aged 65 to 69 years.

The odds for stroke in older adults was significantly higher for those who experienced parental divorce by their 18th birthday compared to those who did not, and higher for those of an older age, data show.

“Recent research suggests that adverse childhood experiences increase the risk of stroke in adulthood,” Esme Fuller-Thomson, PhD, professor and director of the Institute for Life Course and Aging, and Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto, and colleagues wrote in PLoS One. “The number of [adverse childhood experiences] experienced increases the risk for negative health outcomes, including having a stroke.”

Although studies have examined adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and chronic health outcomes including stroke, the body of research is limited on parental divorce and stroke correlations, Fuller-Thomson and colleagues wrote.

They sought to investigate associations between parental divorce in childhood and stroke incidence in older adults who did not experience child abuse, as well as to examine whether the correlation differed between men and women.

Their study culled data from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to yield 13,205 U.S. adults 65 and older (56.6% female) who experienced neither physical nor sexual abuse as children and lived in eight states (Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon and Virginia) where an optional self-report ACE survey module was answered that year.

The primary outcome for the study was parental divorce before the age of 18 among the eligible individuals, measured as a binary answer. The primary outcome variable was a binary answer to a question about diagnosis of stroke by a health care professional. Covariates for analysis included ACE, education level, household mental illness or substance use disorders, social support, health and diet-related behaviors and witnessed domestic violence. Age analysis was divided into four groups (65 to 69 years; 70 to 74 years; 75 to 79 years; 80 years and older) with sex of respondent also coded as a binary variable.

According to results, 7.3% of participants reported having stroke, while 13.9% reported that their parents had divorced before respondents’ 18th birthday.

When controlling for demographics, the odds for having a stroke later in life were 1.73 times higher for respondents who experienced parental divorce compared with those who did not (95% CI, 1.26-2.37). In a fully adjusted model, these individuals had 1.61 times higher odds for stroke than their counterparts (95% CI, 1.15-2.24).

The researchers also reported that the odds of late-life stroke were 1.74 times higher for those aged 75 to 79 years compared with those aged 65 to 69 years, and 2.11 times higher for those aged 80 years and older.

Data further showed that men had a 1.47 times greater risk of later-life stroke vs. women, and that those diagnosed with depression recorded a 1.76 times higher odds for stroke.

“It is extremely concerning that older adults who grew up in divorced families had 60% higher odds of stroke, even after excluding those who had been physically or sexually abused as children,” Fuller-Thomson said in a related release. “The magnitude of the association between parental divorce and stroke was comparable to well-established risk factors for stroke such as male gender and having diabetes.”

Reference:

Your stroke risk might be higher if your parents divorced during your childhood. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1070592. Published Jan. 22, 2025. Accessed Jan. 22, 2025.