Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31711568›Full record

ArticleeLife2019

The mother's risk of premature death after child loss across two centuries.

Unnur A Valdimarsdóttir, Donghao Lu, Sigrún H Lund, Katja Fall, Fang Fang, Þórður Kristjánsson, Daníel Guðbjartsson, Agnar Helgason, Kári Stefánsson

Open access · goldAbstract readHistorical Article
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.8field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. The Aarhus bereavement study (TABstudy).European journal of epidemiology · 2026
    Article
  3. Optimal care for mother and baby in severe postpartum mental illness.Neuropsychiatrie : Klinik, Diagnostik, Therapie und Rehabilitation : Organ der Gesellschaft Osterreichischer Nervenarzte und Psychiater · 2026
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Maternal death and offspring fitness in multiple wild primates.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021
    Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.

Unnur A Valdimarsdóttir *Center of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.ORCID 0000-0001-5382-946X
Donghao Lu *Center of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.ORCID 0000-0002-4186-8661
Sigrún H LunddeCODE Genetics, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Katja FallDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.
Fang FangDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.
Þórður KristjánssondeCODE Genetics, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Daníel GuðbjartssondeCODE Genetics, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Agnar Helgason *deCODE Genetics, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Kári Stefánsson *deCODE Genetics, Reykjavik, Iceland.
deCODE Genetics (Iceland) · ISBoston University · USKarolinska Institutet · SEÖrebro University · SE

Funding

European Research Council 726413RANNIS 163362-051
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

While the rare occurrence of child loss is accompanied by reduced life expectancy of parents in contemporary affluent populations, its impact in developing societies with high child mortality rates is unclear. We identified all parents in Iceland born 1800-1996 and compared the mortality rates of 47,711 parents who lost a child to those of their siblings (N = 126,342) who did not. The proportion of parents who experienced child loss decreased from 61.1% of those born 1800-1880 to 5.2% of those born after 1930. Child loss was consistently associated with increased rate of maternal, but not paternal, death before the age of 50 across all parent birth cohorts; the relative increase in maternal mortality rate ranged from 35% among mothers born 1800-1930 to 64% among mothers born after 1930. The loss of a child poses a threat to the survival of young mothers, even during periods of high infant mortality rates.

Indexed as

MothersChildFemaleHistory, 19th CenturyHistory, 20th CenturyHumansIcelandInfantInfant MortalityInfant, NewbornMortality, PrematureParentsattachmentchild lossdemographyepidemiologyglobal healthhumanmortalitypsychological stresssex difference

Identifiers

PMID31711568
PMCPMC6850766
OpenAlexW2985695918

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.