Bereavement in childhood and young adulthood and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study from Denmark and Sweden
Abstract Background Adverse childhood life events are associated with increased risks of hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and stroke later in life. Limited evidence also suggests that stress in adulthood may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). Whether childhood adversity may lead to...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2023-01-01
|
| Series: | BMC Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02707-4 |
| _version_ | 1797958654099456000 |
|---|---|
| author | Hua Chen Imre Janszky Mikael Rostila Dang Wei Fen Yang Jiong Li Krisztina D. László |
| author_facet | Hua Chen Imre Janszky Mikael Rostila Dang Wei Fen Yang Jiong Li Krisztina D. László |
| author_sort | Hua Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Adverse childhood life events are associated with increased risks of hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and stroke later in life. Limited evidence also suggests that stress in adulthood may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). Whether childhood adversity may lead to the development of AF is unknown. We investigated whether the loss of a parent or sibling in childhood is associated with an increased risk of AF and compared this effect to that of similar losses in young adulthood. Methods We studied 6,394,975 live-born individuals included in the Danish (1973–2018) and Swedish Medical Birth Registers (1973–2014). We linked data from several national registers to obtain information on the death of parents and siblings and on personal and familial sociodemographic and health-related factors. We analyzed the association between bereavement and AF using Poisson regression. Results Loss of a parent or sibling was associated with an increased AF risk both when the loss occurred in childhood and in adulthood; the adjusted incident rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals were 1.24 (1.14–1.35) and 1.24 (1.16–1.33), respectively. Bereavement in childhood was associated with AF only if losses were due to cardiovascular diseases or other natural causes, while loss in adulthood was associated with AF not only in case of natural deaths, but also unnatural deaths. The associations did not differ substantially according to age at loss and whether the deceased was a parent or a sibling. Conclusions Bereavement both in childhood and in adulthood was associated with an increased AF risk. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:22:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-88dc3363ae604226998b990605ddb4ee |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1741-7015 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:22:02Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-88dc3363ae604226998b990605ddb4ee2023-01-08T12:13:58ZengBMCBMC Medicine1741-70152023-01-0121111110.1186/s12916-022-02707-4Bereavement in childhood and young adulthood and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study from Denmark and SwedenHua Chen0Imre Janszky1Mikael Rostila2Dang Wei3Fen Yang4Jiong Li5Krisztina D. László6Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska InstitutetDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska InstitutetDepartment of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm UniversityDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska InstitutetDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska InstitutetDepartment of Clinical Medicine - Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus UniversityDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska InstitutetAbstract Background Adverse childhood life events are associated with increased risks of hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and stroke later in life. Limited evidence also suggests that stress in adulthood may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). Whether childhood adversity may lead to the development of AF is unknown. We investigated whether the loss of a parent or sibling in childhood is associated with an increased risk of AF and compared this effect to that of similar losses in young adulthood. Methods We studied 6,394,975 live-born individuals included in the Danish (1973–2018) and Swedish Medical Birth Registers (1973–2014). We linked data from several national registers to obtain information on the death of parents and siblings and on personal and familial sociodemographic and health-related factors. We analyzed the association between bereavement and AF using Poisson regression. Results Loss of a parent or sibling was associated with an increased AF risk both when the loss occurred in childhood and in adulthood; the adjusted incident rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals were 1.24 (1.14–1.35) and 1.24 (1.16–1.33), respectively. Bereavement in childhood was associated with AF only if losses were due to cardiovascular diseases or other natural causes, while loss in adulthood was associated with AF not only in case of natural deaths, but also unnatural deaths. The associations did not differ substantially according to age at loss and whether the deceased was a parent or a sibling. Conclusions Bereavement both in childhood and in adulthood was associated with an increased AF risk.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02707-4BereavementDeath of the parentDeath of the siblingAtrial fibrillationStress |
| spellingShingle | Hua Chen Imre Janszky Mikael Rostila Dang Wei Fen Yang Jiong Li Krisztina D. László Bereavement in childhood and young adulthood and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study from Denmark and Sweden BMC Medicine Bereavement Death of the parent Death of the sibling Atrial fibrillation Stress |
| title | Bereavement in childhood and young adulthood and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study from Denmark and Sweden |
| title_full | Bereavement in childhood and young adulthood and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study from Denmark and Sweden |
| title_fullStr | Bereavement in childhood and young adulthood and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study from Denmark and Sweden |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bereavement in childhood and young adulthood and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study from Denmark and Sweden |
| title_short | Bereavement in childhood and young adulthood and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study from Denmark and Sweden |
| title_sort | bereavement in childhood and young adulthood and the risk of atrial fibrillation a population based cohort study from denmark and sweden |
| topic | Bereavement Death of the parent Death of the sibling Atrial fibrillation Stress |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02707-4 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT huachen bereavementinchildhoodandyoungadulthoodandtheriskofatrialfibrillationapopulationbasedcohortstudyfromdenmarkandsweden AT imrejanszky bereavementinchildhoodandyoungadulthoodandtheriskofatrialfibrillationapopulationbasedcohortstudyfromdenmarkandsweden AT mikaelrostila bereavementinchildhoodandyoungadulthoodandtheriskofatrialfibrillationapopulationbasedcohortstudyfromdenmarkandsweden AT dangwei bereavementinchildhoodandyoungadulthoodandtheriskofatrialfibrillationapopulationbasedcohortstudyfromdenmarkandsweden AT fenyang bereavementinchildhoodandyoungadulthoodandtheriskofatrialfibrillationapopulationbasedcohortstudyfromdenmarkandsweden AT jiongli bereavementinchildhoodandyoungadulthoodandtheriskofatrialfibrillationapopulationbasedcohortstudyfromdenmarkandsweden AT krisztinadlaszlo bereavementinchildhoodandyoungadulthoodandtheriskofatrialfibrillationapopulationbasedcohortstudyfromdenmarkandsweden |