Having parents who divorced when you were a child can increase your risk of having a stroke.
Older people who were children of divorce are about 60 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than people of the same age whose parents stayed together, according to one study.
Researchers looked at 13,205 people aged 65 and older and found that one in nine whose parents divorced when they were children had suffered a stroke.
The study’s authors suggest that the prolonged stress of being around tense, arguing parents, and perhaps moving to a new home or school after their separation, could have a lasting effect on health.
Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson, lead author of the study from the University of Toronto, said: “We don’t know why people whose parents divorced when they were children have a higher prevalence of strokes, but it may be that stress affects their quality. of sleep.
“There is evidence that disrupted sleep during childhood can lead to people developing insomnia later in life, which can increase the risk of stroke.
‘The prolonged stress of separating from your parents can also permanently change the body’s response to stress, producing elevated levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, which can cause inflammation in the body and increase the risk of stroke.
“However, our study focused on older adults born in the 1950s or earlier, when divorce was rare and highly stigmatized.”
Experts said the stress of watching parents argue and possible lack of sleep could put children of divorce at higher risk of stroke.
In the UK, one person suffers a stroke every five minutes, affecting 100,000 people a year, while there are a total of 1.3 million stroke survivors.
The new study, published in the journal PLOS One, analyzed data from older people in the US who had been surveyed about their health and lifestyle in 2022 and asked if they had had a stroke.
Among those whose parents had divorced before age 18, 11.2 percent reported having had a stroke.
That compares with just 7.5 percent of those whose parents had stayed together.
The researchers took into account other factors that could increase the risk of stroke, such as smoking and being physically inactive.
They also removed people who had experienced childhood abuse from the analysis, so they could be sure it was a divorce and not more traumatic family problems that were linked to a higher risk of stroke.
Taking all of these factors into account, the study found that people whose parents had divorced during their childhood were 61 percent more likely to have suffered a stroke.
Both men and women were at equally high risk.

Among the best-known divorced children are the children of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt: from left to right: Maddox, 23, Vivienne, 16, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 18 and Knox, 16, as well as Pax (not pictured). photo). ), 21

Stroke symptoms are commonly remembered by this four-letter acronym, FAST. Patients who suffer a stroke may often have their face drooping to one side, have difficulty raising both arms and difficulty speaking, while time is of the essence as immediate treatment for a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or A minor stroke can substantially reduce the risk of having a stroke. much deadlier stroke
Interestingly, the increased risk of stroke related to being a child of divorce was comparable to the increased risk seen in people with diabetes, a disease that damages blood vessels, increasing the risk of a blood clot that can cause a stroke. .
People with diabetes were only 37 percent more likely to have a stroke than people without the condition.
The 11.2 percent rate of children of divorce who suffered a stroke was higher than the 10.7 percent rate among people who had divorced or separated from their partner.
The study states: “Parental divorce is a major source of stress for many children, as evidenced by higher rates of emotional and behavioral disorders and poorer mental health.”
But researchers note that the lower stigma associated with divorce may mean that a link to stroke is less evident in younger generations.