Parental divorce at a young age affects boys more with a higher risk of stroke during adulthood, a new study says.
Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 800,000 people die in the U.S. each year from cardiovascular disease and strokes.
Researchers from the University of Toronto found experiencing parental divorce before 18 putting boys three times higher risk of having a stroke as an adult than their peers from intact families. However, the researchers couldn't notice such risks among girls and women with divorced parents.
"The strong association we found for males between parental divorce and stroke is extremely concerning," lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Sandra Rotman Chair at University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Department of Family and Community Medicine, said in a news release.
Other risk factors related to stroke like age, race, income, education, social support, mental health status and adult behaviors like -smoking, exercise, obesity were also taken into consideration.
"Even after these adjustments, parental divorce was still associated with a threefold risk of stroke among males," co-author Angela Dalton, said.
However, the researchers couldn't fully explain the 'why' part of the occurrence. According to them, the stress hormone cortisol may be playing a major role in the occurrence.
Another explanation deals with a process called "biological embedding."
"It is possible that exposure to the stress of parental divorce may have biological implications that change the way these boys react to stress for the rest of their lives," Fuller-Thomson said.
The researchers emphasize the need to conduct further studies to reassure the findings of the study and to use the information to tackle stroke risks.
"If these findings are replicated in other studies, then perhaps health professionals will include information on a patient's parental divorce status to improve targeting of stroke prevention education," Fuller -Thomson concluded.
Findings of the study have been published in the International Journal of Stroke.
