Children of Divorce Have a Higher Risk of Stroke, Study Finds
Participants whose parents divorced before they turned 18 were 61% more likely to experience a stroke later in life
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Children of divorce are nearly two-thirds more likely to have a stroke later in life, a new study finds.
The study — published Jan. 22 in PLOS One — analyzed 13,205 people aged 65 and older who were part of the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a project run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect health-related data.
Researchers found that participants whose parents divorced before they turned 18 were 61% more likely to experience a stroke later in life. This greater risk was also present after accounting for depression and diabetes, which are also known risk factors for stroke.
"Our study indicates that even after taking into account most of the known risk factors associated with stroke — including smoking, physical inactivity, lower income and education, diabetes, depression, and low social support — those whose parents had divorced still had 61% higher odds of having a stroke," study author Mary Kate Schilke said.
Esme Fuller-Thomson, lead author of the study, noted that the researchers excluded participants who were exposed to sexual or physical abuse from the study.
“Our research wanted to clarify the association between parental divorce and stroke by avoiding any potential confounding with childhood abuse,” she explained.
Related: More Than Half of U.S. Adults Will Have Cardiovascular Disease by 2050, Study Finds
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Experts explained that it’s unclear why there is a link between children of divorce and stroke risk, but both biological and social factors can be contributing factors.
"From a biological embedding perspective, having your parents split up during childhood could lead to sustained high levels of stress hormones," Fuller-Thomson said. "Experiencing this as a child could have lasting influences on the developing brain and a child's ability to respond to stress."
"If future research finds similar links between parental divorce and stroke, it is possible that knowledge about whether or not their patient grew up in an intact family will be used by health professionals improve targeted outreach for stroke prevention and education," Schilke added.
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