Children with parents who have gotten divorced at some point, have more than twice the risk of having a stroke during their lives.
Research on these findings was presented at The Gerontological Society of America’s (GSA) annual meeting.
Data for the study was compiled from more than 13,000 people in a 2005 health survey, and analyzed by a University of Toronto research team.
After accounting for additional health risks, researchers still found parental divorce to hold a very high rate of stroke in children who experienced the divorce.
From the total study population, more than 10 percent explained to have a parental divorce, and nearly 2 percent reported to have had a stroke at some time during their life. After accounting for health factors including age and gender, the stroke risk was more than two-fold for those who have experienced a divorce of their parent(s).
Even when analyzing other risk factors like health habits, mental health, or other childhood experiences, the risk for stroke in those experiencing a parental divorce remained significantly higher than those who did not.
Researchers suggest these findings to be interesting, but explain it to potentially put an added strain on distressed parents.
Additional research needs to be compiled to determine if additional factors exist to present these findings.