Stroke Risk in Older Adults Tied to Parental Divorce in Childhood

Adults who have experienced parental divorce in childhood may face an elevated risk for stroke later in life, according to the findings of a study published in PLOS One.

Parental divorce has been linked to various adverse health outcomes in adulthood, but few studies have specifically examined its association with stroke risk. Therefore, researchers conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study using data from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to assess whether individuals who experienced parental divorce in childhood had a higher likelihood of developing stroke in later years.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from 13,205 adults (women, 57%) aged 65 and older who had never experienced childhood physical or sexual abuse. Stroke diagnosis was self-reported based on physician confirmation. The primary exposure of interest was parental divorce before the age of 18. Covariates included sociodemographic factors, adverse childhood experiences, health behaviors, and chronic health conditions.

Among the participants, 7.3% had self-reported a previous stroke, while 13.9% reported parental divorce in childhood. After adjusting for potential confounders, individuals who experienced parental divorce had 1.61 times higher odds of having a stroke compared with those whose parents remained married (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.61; 95% CI, 1.15-2.24).

The association between parental divorce and stroke was not significantly influenced by sex; however, compared with women, men had a higher overall risk for stroke (aOR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.11-1.93). Increased age was also a significant predictor of stroke risk. Compared with adults aged 65 to 69, among those aged 75 to 79 and those aged 80 and older, the odds of having a stroke were 1.74 times higher (aOR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.17-2.57) and 2.11 times higher (aOR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.38-3.21), respectively.

Other significant predictors of stroke included lower household income, depression (aOR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.22-2.54), and diabetes (aOR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.03-1.81). Physical activity was associated with lower stroke risk; compared with inactive individuals, those that were active had 25% lower odds of stroke (aOR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.58-0.98).

The researchers suggested that chronic stress related to parental divorce may contribute to long-term cardiovascular risk through mechanisms such as dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, increased hypertension risk, and poor sleep quality, all of which are factors known to influence stroke development.

This study’s cross-sectional design, reliance on self-reported data introducing potential recall bias, and lack of information on hypertension and sleep quality limited further analysis of these mediators.

“Our findings advance the body of knowledge by demonstrating that both men and women aged 65 and older in this more recent cohort were significantly at greater risk of stroke when they had a history of parental divorce,” the researchers concluded.