Parental Divorce in Childhood May Lead to Diabetes and Heart Diseases Later

Children who witness parental divorce have higher levels of an inflammatory marker in the blood that may result in heart diseases and diabetes, a latest research reveals.

Researchers at University College London (UCL) studied data collected from 7, 462 people in the 1958 National Child Development Study, and found that children below 16 who witnessed the breakup of their parents' marriage had 16 per cent higher levels of C-reactive protein by age 44. The study followed people born in 1958 for the research.

C-reactive protein is an inflammatory marker found in blood samples. Long-term raised C-reactive protein is a known risk factor for diseases such as coronary heart disease, cancer  and type II diabetes.

The researchers found that the link between parental divorce and later inflammation was mainly due to adolescent material disadvantages and educational attainments. However, the specific reasons were unclear.

To be precise, people who witnessed the divorce of parents before they turned 16 were more likely to be materially disadvantaged during their growing years. The researchers found that the surveyed people had lower educational qualifications compared to children whose parents were not separated.

"Our study suggests that it is not parental divorce or separation per se which increases the risk of later inflammation but that it is other social disadvantages, such as how well the child does in education, which are triggered by having experienced parental divorce which are important," said Dr Rebecca Lacey, Research Associate in the UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and lead author of the study.