ArticleActa psychiatrica Scandinavica2026
The Cumulative Risk of Having a Family Member With a Diagnosed Mental Disorder: A Nationwide Study of Mental Disorders in Family Networks.
Article in Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The Cumulative Risk of Having a Family Member With a Diagnosed Mental Disorder: A Nationwide Study of Mental Disorders in Family Networks.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2026Article
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Abstract
introductionMental disorders are associated with high costs-at the individual and societal level. But families also shoulder large costs in the form of caring for mentally ill family members. Yet, we do not know how common it is to have a family member with a mental disorder and whether this experience falls disproportionately on those who struggle with mental disorders themselves. To fill this gap, this study estimates the cumulative risk of having a family member with a diagnosed mental disorder.
methodsThe study uses full population Danish registry data to follow individuals born in 1970 and their family members (parents, siblings, partners, and children) between 1980 and 2018. The study uses nationwide records of outpatient and inpatient hospital treatment for psychiatric disorders and cumulative incidence functions to estimate the cumulative risk of having a family member diagnosed with a mental disorder.
resultsAmong this cohort (N = 69,811) the cumulative risk of having a family member with a diagnosed mental disorder by age 49 is 51.4% [95% CI: 51.0%-51.8%]. Individuals diagnosed with a mental disorder themselves by age 49 (N = 9899) were 1.42 times more likely to have a family member with a mental disorder, and this difference grows for the cumulative risk of experiencing multiple family members with diagnosed mental disorders.
conclusionThis study provides novel nationwide estimates of how common it is to have a family member with a diagnosed mental disorder. The cumulative risk of having a mental disorder severe enough to result in secondary care treatment and diagnosis is estimated at 13.9% among the 1970 birth cohort, but many more (just above 50%) experience mental disorders through their family network. These results highlight how many individuals and families experience (severe) mental disorders at close hand and show the disproportionate potential caregiving burden carried by individuals who are themselves diagnosed with a mental disorder at some point.
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