Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35849345›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2023

Mortality among twin individuals exposed to loss of a co-twin.

Huan Song, Yanan Shang, Fang Fang, Catarina Almqvist, Nancy L Pedersen, Patrik K E Magnusson, Henrik Larsson, Unnur A Valdimarsdóttir

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

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2citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Huan SongWest China Biomedical Big Data Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China.ORCID 0000-0003-3845-8079
Yanan ShangWest China Biomedical Big Data Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China.
Fang FangInstitute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-3310-6456
Catarina AlmqvistDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-1045-1898
Nancy L PedersenDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Patrik K E MagnussonDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Henrik LarssonDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Unnur A ValdimarsdóttirCenter of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.

Funding

European Research Council 726413
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAlthough the death of a child, sibling or spouse has been associated with elevated risk of mortality, less is known about the survival of twin siblings exposed to a co-twin loss.

methodsIn a Swedish population-based sibling-matched cohort, we compared the mortality of 5548 twin individuals who lost their co-twin between 1932 and 2011 with that of 27 740 age-matched and sex-matched twin individuals without such a loss and 6772 full siblings of these exposed twin individuals. Cox regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) of all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

resultsWe found increased risk of all-cause mortality among twin individuals exposed to a co-twin loss compared with matched unexposed twin individuals (HR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.18-1.43) and their full siblings (HR = 1.10, 95% CI: 0.96-1.27) after adjusting for multiple covariates. The all-cause mortality risk was greater for loss of a co-twin due to unnatural deaths (HR = 1.54, 95% CI: 1.17-2.03) than natural deaths (HR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.14-1.40). For cause-specific mortality, co-twin loss was associated with a higher risk of unnatural deaths both among twin individuals who lost their co-twin due to unnatural deaths (HR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.27-3.10) and those whose loss was due to natural deaths (HR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.07-2.06). The risk elevations were generally stronger for loss of a monozygotic co-twin than loss of a dizygotic co-twin.

conclusionLoss of a co-twin, especially a monozygotic co-twin, was associated with increased mortality, particularly of unnatural causes, among the surviving twin individuals. The excess mortality is likely attributable to both shared disease susceptibility within the twin pair and the adverse health sequelae of bereavement.

Indexed as

BereavementSiblingsChildHumansSwedenbereavementCo-twin lossCox regression modelmortality

Identifiers

PMID35849345
PMCPMC10114119

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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.