ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2017
Payback time? Influence of having children on mortality in old age.
Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Parenthood and mental health throughout the life course: A total population study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- The Benefits of Prosocial Behavior for Mental and Physical Health: A Neuroscience Approach.Current directions in psychological science · 2026Article
- Parenthood and all-cause mortality in older adults with schizophrenia: a multicenter 5-year prospective study.Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999) · 2025Article
- Parenthood and the physical and mental health of sexual and gender minority parents: A cross-sectional, observational analysis from The PRIDE Study.Annals of epidemiology · 2024Observational
- Social relationships and epigenetic aging in older adulthood: Results from the Health and Retirement Study.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2023Article
- Article
- Interrelated effects of age and parenthood on whole-brain controllability: protective effects of parenthood in mothers.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Article
- Impact of fertility on the longevity of older rural Chinese women: an analysis of a longitudinal survey.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Association between Parenthood and Health Behaviour in Later Life-Results from the Population-Based CARLA Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Parental status in later life and parents' risk of cognitive impairment.SSM - population health · 2021Article
- Association between living with children and outcomes from covid-19: OpenSAFELY cohort study of 12 million adults in England.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Article
- Filial discrepancy and mortality among community-dwelling older adults: a prospective cohort study.Aging & mental health · 2020Article
- Marital status, living arrangements, and mortality in middle and older age in Europe.International journal of public health · 2020Article
- Parity is associated with cognitive function and brain age in both females and males.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Equality of opportunity is linked to lower mortality in Europe.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2020Article
- Longitudinal prediction of positive and negative mental health in Germany, Russia, and China.PloS one · 2020Article
- Parents survive longer after stroke than childless individuals: a prospective cohort study of Swedes over the age of 65.European journal of public health · 2019Article
- The role of children and their socioeconomic resources for the risk of hospitalisation and mortality - a nationwide register-based study of the total Swedish population over the age 70.BMC geriatrics · 2019Article
- The parental co-immunization hypothesis: An observational competing risks analysis.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- The 100-plus Study of cognitively healthy centenarians: rationale, design and cohort description.European journal of epidemiology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIt is known that parents have lower mortality than childless individuals. Support from adult children to ageing parents may be of importance for parental health and longevity. The aim of this study was to estimate the association between having a child and the risk of death, and to examine whether the association increased at older ages when health starts to deteriorate and the need of support from a family member increases.
methodsIn this nationwide study, all men and women (born between 1911 and 1925 and residing in Sweden), as well as their children, were identified in population registers and followed over time. Age-specific death risks were calculated for each calendar year for individuals having at least one child and for individuals without children. Adjusted risk differences and risk ratios were estimated.
resultsMen and women having at least one child experienced lower death risks than childless men and women. At 60 years of age, the difference in life expectancy was 2 years for men and 1.5 years for women. The absolute differences in death risks increased with parents' age and were somewhat larger for men than for women. The association persisted when the potential confounding effect of having a partner was taken into account. The gender of the child did not matter for the association between parenthood and mortality.
conclusionsHaving children is associated with increased longevity, particularly in an absolute sense in old age. That the association increased with parents' age and was somewhat stronger for the non-married may suggest that social support is a possible explanation.
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