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Aims: There is a widely held belief, in Sweden and internationally, that women with children are more likely to be on sickness absence (SA) than their nulliparous counterparts. However, empirical findings in the field are limited and inconsistent. We aimed to explore initially nulliparous women's patterns of SA and disability pension (DP) three years before and seven years after 2009, by later parity. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of nulliparous women in Sweden on 31 December 2009 (N =426,918). We compared crude and standardized numbers of SA/DP net days in the three years before (Y–3 to Y–1) and the seven years (Y+1 to Y+7) after the date of the first birth in 2010 or 2 July 2010 in the following three groups: (1) women with no childbirth during the seven-year follow-up and an additional nine months (i.e. 7.8 years), (2) women with a first childbirth in 2010 and no additional childbirth during the next 7.8 years, and (3) women with their first childbirth in 2010 and minimum one more during the next 7.8 years. Results: Women remaining nulliparous had consistently more standardized mean SA/DP days than women giving birth. Compared with women with one birth, women with several births had similar mean numbers of standardized SA/DP days during Y–3 and Y–2, more during Y+1 to Y+3 and fewer during Y+4 to Y+7. Conclusions: In contrast to the widely held societal belief, we found that in all years women who gave birth had fewer SA/DP days than those remaining nulliparous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The psychological toll on parents of a child receiving a cancer diagnosis is known to be high, but there is a knowledge gap regarding suicidal behavior among these parents. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of suicide attempt and death by suicide in relation to having a child with cancer. Methods and findings: We performed a binational population-based and sibling-controlled cohort study, including all parents with a child diagnosed with cancer in Denmark (1978 to 2016) or Sweden (1973 to 2014), 10 matched unexposed parents per exposed parent (population comparison), and unaffected full siblings of the exposed parents (sibling comparison). Suicide attempt was identified through the Patient Register and the Psychiatric Central Register in Denmark and the Patient Register in Sweden, whereas death by suicide was identified through the Danish Causes of Death Register and the Swedish Causes of Death Register. In population comparison, we used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of suicide attempt and death by suicide associated with cancer diagnosis of a child, adjusting for sex, age, country of residence, calendar year, marital status, highest attained educational level, household income, history of cancer, history of psychiatric disorder, and family history of psychiatric disorder. The sibling comparison was performed to assess the role of familial confounding in the studied associations. The population comparison consisted of 106,005 exposed parents and 1,060,050 matched unexposed parents, with a median age of 56 at cohort entry and 46.9% male. During the median follow-up of 7.3 and 7.2 years, we observed 613 (incidence rate [IR], 58.8 per 100,000 person-years) and 5,888 (IR, 57.1 per 100,000 person-years) cases of first-onset suicide attempt among the exposed and unexposed parents, respectively. There was an increased risk of parental suicide attempt during the first years after a child's cancer diagnosis (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, [1.03, 1.28]; p = 0.01), particularly when the child was 18 or younger at diagnosis (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, [1.08, 1.46]; p = 0.004), when the child was diagnosed with a highly aggressive cancer (HR, 1.60; 95% CI, [1.05, 2.43]; p = 0.03), or when the child died due to cancer (HR, 1.63; 95% CI, [1.29, 2.06]; p < 0.001). The increased risk did not, however, maintain thereafter (HR, 0.86; 95% CI: [0.75, 0.98]; p = 0.03), and there was no altered risk of parental death by suicide any time after the child's cancer diagnosis. Sibling comparison corroborated these findings. The main limitation of the study is the potential residual confounding by factors not shared between full siblings. Conclusions: In this study, we observed an increased risk of parental suicide attempt during the first years after a child's cancer diagnosis, especially when the child was diagnosed during childhood, or with an aggressive or fatal form of cancer. There was, however, no altered risk of parental death by suicide at any time after a child's cancer diagnosis. Our findings suggest extended clinical awareness of suicide attempt among parents of children with cancer, especially during the first few years after cancer diagnosis. In this large population based cohort study, Qianwei Liu and co-workers explore how a diagnosis of cancer in children influences suicide risk in parents. Author summary: Why was this study done?: Having a child with a cancer diagnosis is highly stressful for parents. Little is known about risk of parental suicidal behavior in relation to cancer diagnosis of a child. What did the researchers do and find?: We performed a binational population-based and sibling-controlled cohort study to investigate the association between cancer diagnosis of a child and the subsequent risk of suicide attempt or death by suicide among the parents. We observed an increased risk of parental suicide attempt during the first years after a child's cancer diagnosis, especially when the child was diagnosed during childhood, or with an aggressive or fatal form of cancer, in both the population-based comparison and the sibling comparison. What do these findings mean?: Our findings call for clinical awareness of the risk of suicide attempt among parents of children with cancer, primarily within the first years after cancer diagnosis of the child. Future studies are needed to examine the generalizability of our findings to other countries with different healthcare system, sociocultural context, and prevalence of cancer and suicidal behavior as Denmark and Sweden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pregnancy and childbirth entail increased risks of sickness absence (SA). Many women work in education and care, two branches characterised by high SA levels; it is not known if the link between childbirth and SA in these branches differs between private and public sectors. We examined SA and disability pension (DP) in relation to childbirth among women working in the education and care branches, and if these patterns differed between public and private sectors. Methods: We performed a Swedish register-based cohort study. Study participants were nulliparous women living in Sweden in December 2004 and employed in education or care (n = 120,013). We compared SA/DP in the three years before and after 2005 among women who had no childbirth during follow-up (B0), had one childbirth in 2005 and no more (B1), and had one childbirth in 2005 and at least one more during follow-up (B1+). Analyses were performed for all and by public or private sector. Results: Of all studied women, 70% worked in the public sector. Women in B1 and B1+ had, except for the year before childbirth, comparable or lower mean combined SA/DP days than women in the B0 group; women in the B1+ group had, except for the year before childbirth, the lowest mean level of SA/DP. We observed no substantial differences in these patterns between public and private sectors. Conclusions: Patterns of SA/DP among nulliparous women who did or did not give birth did not differ substantially between public and private sectors among women in the educational and care branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: High academic aspirations relate to higher achievement and better mental health, but less is known about how these aspirations are formed in relation to the educational context. Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between overall school climate, with particular concern for the dimensions of school level expectations and support as rated by both teachers and students and adolescent academic aspirations. Methods: Multilevel logistic models for repeated measures were used in order to investigate the relationship between measures of school climate and adolescents' academic aspirations. Three annual waves of questionnaire data were used to obtain aggregated teacher- and student-rating of school climate, including specific dimensions of teacher expectations and support. Results: Positive teacher-rated overall school climate was associated with an increased odds of adolescents aiming at a university education rather than at a lower one (adjusted OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.14–1.63 for the intermediate tertile; OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.14–1.70 for the highest tertile). A similar trend was found for the teacher-rated measures of expectations and student focus, but not for any of the student-rated school climate measures. Conclusion: A positive school climate rated by teachers appears to predict adolescents' university aspirations. Future research should clarify which aspects of the school climate may influence adolescent academic aspirations from the students' perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adolescents' high academic expectations predict future health and successful societal integration. Yet, little is known about which factors may promote adolescents' expectations of their future education and academic achievement. Aims: To explore whether potentially modifiable factors such as parents' engagement and expectations regarding their child's education; or student individual factors such as school engagement, academic achievement, sense of identity, and positive mental health predict positive development of academic expectations in early adolescence. Methods: A longitudinal study of 3,203 adolescents and their parents was conducted with information collected between 7th grade (13 years of age) and 9th grade (16 years of age). Parental and adolescents' own academic expectations and engagement in school, academic achievement, identity synthesis, and mental health were self-reported in annual questionnaires. We used logistic regression to analyze the associations between the aforementioned factors and two binary outcomes related to changes in expectations from 7th to 9th grade: A. resolved uncertainty regarding own academic expectations; B. raised academic expectations. Results: Student engagement, and higher academic grades predicted both resolved uncertainty in expectations and raised academic expectations. Higher parental involvement in education was related to resolved uncertainty, while high parental expectations were related to raised student expectations. Identity synthesis and mental health did not appear to predict either outcome. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that a supportive parental attitude concerning their child's education during adolescence, student engagement, and positive progressions in academic achievements may contribute to a positive development of academic expectations, thus to positive educational trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pregnancy is associated with a temporarily increased sickness absence (SA) risk. This association may vary by the level of occupational gender segregation; however, knowledge in this area is limited. We studied whether trends in SA and disability pension (DP) in the years before and after first childbirth among women with one or more childbirths and with no childbirth during the study period varied by occupational gender segregation. Methods: We conducted a population-based register study involving nulliparous women aged 18–39 years, living in Sweden in 2002–2004 (n = 364,411). We classified participants in three childbirth groups as: (1) no childbirth in 2005 or in the next 3.75 years, (2) first childbirth in 2005 and no births in the subsequent 3.75 years, and (3) first childbirth in 2005 and at least one additional birth in the subsequent 3.75 years, and into five categories based on the rate of women in their occupations. We compared crude and standardized mean annual net SA and DP days during the three years before and the three years after 2005 across the childbirth and occupational gender segregation categories. Results: Women in extremely male-dominated occupations had or tended to have somewhat higher mean combined SA and DP days than women in gender-integrated occupations; women in female-dominated occupations had comparable or tended to have slightly higher mean SA and DP days than women in gender-integrated occupations. Except for the year before the first childbirth, women who gave birth, especially those who gave several births, had generally a lower mean combined standardized SA and DP days than nulliparous women. We found no substantial differences in trends in SA and DP around the time of first childbirth according to occupational gender segregation. Conclusions: Trends in SA and DP around the time of first childbirth did not vary by occupational gender segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background We investigated whether bereavement of a close family member - a source of severe psychological stress exposure - the year before pregnancy is associated with gestational diabetes mellitus ( GDM). Methods We studied pregnant women with livebirths in Denmark during 1994-2008 and with births in Sweden during 1987-2006 ( n = 2 569 446). We obtained data on death of women's parents, siblings, and older children, and on demographic and health- and pregnancy-related factors through linkage between nationwide registers. Results In multivariable models, death of a close relative the year before pregnancy was associated with a 14% increased odds of GDM [95% confidence intervals ( CIs) 1.03, 1.26]. The odds ratios corresponding to the loss of a child, parent, and sibling were 1.51 (95% CI: 1.17, 1.95), 1.12 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.25), and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.40, 1.25), respectively. Deaths due to cardiovascular diseases or diabetes were more closely related to the risk of GDM than other types of deaths. We found no association between unnatural deaths and the risk of GDM. Conclusions Death of a close relative the year before pregnancy was associated with a modestly increased GDM risk. Our findings according to the relative's cause of death suggest that differences in screening for GDM among exposure groups and residual confounding by familial factors related to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases may have contributed to this association. If there is a causal stress effect on GDM in this predominantly Nordic population, it is most likely small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the individual and the joint effect of impaired fetal growth and adult health behaviors on the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). A total of 15,618 individuals were included from three sub-cohorts of the Stockholm Public Health Cohort. Data on participants' birthweight and gestational age were retrieved from the Medical Birth Register. Data on the diagnoses of CVDs were extracted from the Swedish National Patient Register and the Cause of Death Register. Data on health behaviors were identified from self-reported questionnaires, and health behavioral profile was defined based on the recommendations of the American Health Association. The associations of fetal growth and health behaviors with the risk of CVDs were analyzed using Cox proportional hazard model. Individuals born small for gestational age (SGA) had a higher risk of CVDs than those born appropriate for gestational age (AGA), and the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) was 1.88 (1.44, 2.47). Participants born SGA and having poor health behavioral profile in adulthood had a higher risk of CVDs than those born AGA and having ideal health behaviors with adjusted HR (95% CI) being 3.58 (1.95, 6.56). Impaired fetal growth was associated with an increased risk of CVDs in adulthood, and the risk was highest in individuals with both impaired fetal growth and poor health behaviors in adulthood. Conclusions Impaired fetal growth was associated with an increased risk of CVDs in adulthood, and the risk was highest in individuals with both impaired fetal growth and poor health behaviors in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: The prognostic role of job insecurity in coronary heart disease is unknown. We aimed to analyze whether job insecurity predicts mortality and recurrent events after a first acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods: We studied non-fatal AMI cases involved in the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program who were in paid employment and younger than 65years (n=676). Shortly after their AMI, patients completed a questionnaire about job insecurity, demographic, work-related, clinical and lifestyle factors and participated in a clinical examination three months after discharge from the hospital. They were followed for 8.5years for mortality and cardiovascular events. Results: After adjusting for previous morbidity, demographic and work-related factors, job insecurity was associated with an increased risk of the combined endpoint of cardiac death and non-fatal AMI, of total mortality and of heart failure; the hazard ratios (HR) and the 95% confidence intervals (CI) were 1.50 (1.02-2.22), 1.69 (1.04-2.75) and 1.62 (1.07-2.44), respectively. Similar associations, but with less statistical power were observed between job insecurity and cardiac death (HR (95% CI): 1.57 (0.80-3.09)) and stroke (HR (95% CI): 1.46 (0.71-3.02)), respectively. Adjustment for potential mediators, i.e. sleep problems, health behaviour, hypertension, blood lipids, glucose, inflammatory and coagulation factors did not alter considerably the relationship between job insecurity and the combination of cardiac mortality and non-fatal AMI. Conclusions: Our results suggest that job insecurity is an adverse prognostic factor in patients with a first AMI. Future studies are needed to confirm this finding and to determine the mechanisms underlying the observed relationship. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Increasing evidence suggests that maternal stress during pregnancy may influence pregnancy outcomes. In a nationwide Swedish study including almost 3 million births taking place during 1973–2006, we investigated whether maternal bereavement during pregnancy is associated with stillbirth risk. Through individual record linkage between several population-based registers, we obtained information on demographic, health-related, and pregnancy-related factors and deaths of mothers' first-degree relatives. There were 11,071 stillbirths (3.8 per 1,000 births) in the cohort. After adjustment for potential confounders, infants of mothers who had lost any first-degree relative the year before or during pregnancy had an 18% higher risk of stillbirth than unexposed offspring (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 1.31). Corresponding hazard ratios were 1.67 (95% CI: 1.18, 2.36) for maternal loss of an older child, 2.06 (95% CI: 1.44, 2.94) for loss of a sibling, and 1.07 (95% CI: 0.95, 1.21) for loss of a parent. The relationship between maternal bereavement and stillbirth did not vary by time of death or by whether the relative's death was expected or unexpected. Death of a close relative is one of the most severe sources of stress, and future studies need to investigate whether less severe but more common stressors also increase stillbirth risk. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Background: Suggestive evidence supports that anger is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, the knowledge regarding the impact of anger on prognosis after a coronary event, especially among women is limited. We investigated whether anger expression increases the risk of recurrent events in women with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: Women (n =203) hospitalized for an acute cardiac event were assessed for the four scales of the Framingham Anger Questionnaire, demographic, biomedical and lifestyle factors and were followed for 6.4±1 years for total mortality and the combination of cardiovascular death and non-fatal acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Results: After adjustment for confounders such as age, inclusion diagnosis and smoking in the proportional hazard models the tendency to suppress angry feelings was associated with the combination of cardiac death and recurrent AMI (hazard ratio (HR): 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.99–1.42) and with all-cause mortality (HR:1.29, 95% CI: 1.03–1.60). Each unit increase in the outward expression of anger increased by 42% the risk for cardiac death or a new AMI (95% CI: 1.01–2.00). Among the potential biological mediators only inflammatory markers attenuated somewhat the relationship. Anger symptoms and discussion of anger were not related to prognosis. Conclusions: The outward expression and the suppression of anger seem to be associated with prognosis in women with CHD. Future studies need to confirm these findings and to test whether behavioural intervention programs aiming to reduce detrimental anger behaviour in women can influence CHD prognosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although the number of insecure jobs has increased considerably over the recent decades, relatively little is known about the health consequences of job insecurity, their international pattern, and factors that may modify them. In this paper, we investigated the association between job insecurity and self-rated health, and whether the relationship differs by country or individual-level characteristics. Cross-sectional data from 3 population-based studies on job insecurity, self-rated health, demographic, socioeconomic, work-related and behavioural factors and lifetime chronic diseases in 23,245 working subjects aged 45–70 years from 16 European countries were analysed using logistic regression and meta-analysis. In fully adjusted models, job insecurity was significantly associated with an increased risk of poor health in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands, Poland and Russia, with odds ratios ranging between 1.3 and 2.0. Similar, but not significant, associations were observed in Austria, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. We found no effect of job insecurity in Belgium and Sweden. In the pooled data, the odds ratio of poor health by job insecurity was 1.39. The association between job insecurity and health did not differ significantly by age, sex, education, and marital status. Persons with insecure jobs were at an increased risk of poor health in most of the countries included in the analysis. Given these results and trends towards increasing frequency of insecure jobs, attention needs to be paid to the public health consequences of job insecurity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article examines the relationship between work stress as defined according to the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model and painful menstruation in Hungary. It explores the association between work stress and dysmenorrhea using logistic regression based on data of 821 pre-menopausal and not pregnant women from the Hungarostudy Epidemiological Panel 2006. It found that previous miscarriage, smoking, body-mass index, physical activity and depressive symptoms effort-reward imbalance were associated with an increased risk of menstrual pain.

While imposing research has been conducted with respect to the biological determinants of painful menstruation, little is known about the psychosocial factors, including work-related stress that might influence menstrual pain. We conducted a study in which we aimed to determine besides the prevalence of dysmenorrhoea whether menstrual pain was associated with job control, co-worker social support, job security and dissatisfaction with the job. Data of 2772 working women aged 18-55 years, participants in the Hungarostudy 2002 nation-wide representative survey was analyzed. Binary logistic regression was used to determine the association between work stress factors and menstrual pain. Altogether 15.5% of women reported to experience menstrual pain that limits their daily activity. Low job control, low co-worker social support and low job security were found to be associated with a higher risk for menstrual pain even after controlling for the effect of age, educational attainment, parity status, smoking, body-mass index and treatment for gynecological problems. Job dissatisfaction was also related to dysmenorrhoea, albeit not significantly. The relationship between work-related psychosocial factors and painful menstruation deserves further investigation in order to determine the possible pathways of this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Childbirth has been suggested to increase sickness absence (SA) and disability pension (DP). This may vary by occupation; however, knowledge in this field remains limited. We explored SA and DP in the years before and after childbirth among women in four occupational groups and those without occupation.Methods: We studied nulliparous women aged 18-39 years, living in Sweden on December 31, 2004 (n = 492,504). Women were categorized into five skill-level based occupational groups and three childbirth groups; no childbirths within 3 years (B0), first childbirth in 2005 with no childbirth within 3 years (B1), and first childbirth in 2005 with at least one more birth within 3 years (B1+). We compared crude and standardized annual mean SA (in spells> 14 days) and DP net days in the 3 years before and 3 years after first childbirth date.Results: Women in the highest skill level occupations and managers, had less mean SA/DP days during most study years than women in the lowest skill level occupations group. In B1 and B1+, absolute differences in mean SA/DP, particularly in SA, among occupational groups were highest during the year before childbirth. DP was most common in B0, regardless of group and year.Conclusions: We found that women's mean SA/DP days before and after first childbirth was higher with decreasing skill-level of the occupational group and these differences were most pronounced in the year before childbirth. DP was most common among women not giving birth, regardless of occupational group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: School is one of the most formative institutions for adolescents' development, but whether school environment affects mental health is uncertain. We investigated the association between the school's pedagogical and social climate and individual-level mental health in adolescence.Methods: We studied 3416 adolescents from 94 schools involved in KUPOL, a longitudinal study conducted in eight regions in Sweden. School climate was reported by the school's teaching personnel and by the final year students using the teacher and the student versions of the Pedagogical and Social Climate Questionnaire, respectively. Index persons' mental health was assessed with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. We performed multilevel logistic regression models adjusted for individual, familial and school-level confounders measured in grade 7 and exposure and outcome measured in grades 8 and 9.Results: The adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals comparing the middle and the high to the lowest tertile of the total teacher school climate score were 1.47 (1.10-1.97) and 1.52 (1.11-2.09) for depressive symptoms and 1.50 (1.08-2.08) and 1.64 (1.16-2.33) for the total strengths and difficulties score. In contrast, there was no association between total student school climate score and mental health.Conclusions: We found that teacher-, but not student-rated school climate was associated with an increased risk of poor mental health at the student level; the association was most pronounced for internalizing problems. Given schools' importance for adolescents' development, further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying the observed association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor in response to the article "Invited commentary: maternal stress and stillbirth—another piece of the puzzle" by Drs. Silver and Ruiz in the January 7, 2013 issue is presented.

The association between intrauterine growth restriction and cardiovascular disease (CVD) later in life might be confounded by familial factors. We conducted a binational register-based cohort study to assess associations of birth weight for gestational age (GA), a proxy for intrauterine growth restriction, and GA with CVD risk in early adulthood, before and after addressing familial factors via sibling comparison. We included 3,410,334 live nonmalformed singleton births from Sweden (1973–1996) and Denmark (1978–1998). During a median follow-up period of 10 years from age 18 years onwards, 29,742 individuals developed incident CVD (hypertension, ischemic heart disease, or cerebrovascular disease). Compared with individuals born with appropriate birth weight for GA (AGA; 10th–90th percentiles) or full term (39–40 gestational weeks), individuals born severely small for GA (SGA; ≤3rd percentile) or preterm (22–36 weeks) were at increased risk of CVD (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.38 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.32, 1.45) and HR = 1.31 (95% CI: 1.25, 1.38), respectively). The association was attenuated when comparing individuals born SGA with their AGA siblings (HR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.99, 1.25) but remained robust when comparing individuals born preterm with their term siblings (HR = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.37). Our findings suggest that both SGA and preterm birth are associated with CVD risk in early adulthood, with greater familial confounding noted for SGA birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postpartum psychiatric disorders (PPD) are common complications of childbirth. A common explanation for their development is that the psychological, hormonal, and immune changes associated with pregnancy and parturition may trigger psychiatric symptoms postpartum. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by abnormalities in the activity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and of the immune system, but its association with PPD is unknown. We analyzed whether women with RA before childbirth have an increased risk of PPD. Methods: We conducted a large population-based cohort study including mothers of singleton births in the Danish (1995–2015), Finnish (1997–2013), and Swedish Medical Birth Registers (2001–2013) (N = 3,516,849). We linked data from the Medical Birth Registers with data from several national socioeconomic and health registers. Exposure was defined as having a diagnosis of RA before childbirth, while the main outcome was a clinical diagnosis of psychiatric disorders 90 days postpartum. We analyzed the association between RA and PPD using Cox proportional hazard models, stratified by a personal history of psychiatric disorders. Results: Among women without a history of psychiatric disorders, the PPD incidence rate was 32.2 in the exposed and 19.5 per 1000 person-years in the unexposed group; women with RA had a higher risk of overall PPD than their unexposed counterparts [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 1.52, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.17 to 1.98]. Similar associations were also observed for postpartum depression (HR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.48) and other PPD (HR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.24). Among women with a history of psychiatric disorders, the incidence rate of overall PPD was 339.6 in the exposed and 346.6 per 1000 person-years in the unexposed group; RA was not associated with PPD. We observed similar associations between preclinical RA (RA diagnosed after childbirth) and PPD to those corresponding to clinical RA. Conclusions: Rheumatoid arthritis was associated with an increased PPD risk in women without, but not in those with a psychiatric history. If our findings are confirmed in future studies, new mothers with RA may benefit from increased surveillance for new-onset psychiatric disorders postpartum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adverse childhood life events are associated with increased risks of hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and stroke later in life. Limited evidence also suggests that stress in adulthood may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). Whether childhood adversity may lead to the development of AF is unknown. We investigated whether the loss of a parent or sibling in childhood is associated with an increased risk of AF and compared this effect to that of similar losses in young adulthood. Methods: We studied 6,394,975 live-born individuals included in the Danish (1973–2018) and Swedish Medical Birth Registers (1973–2014). We linked data from several national registers to obtain information on the death of parents and siblings and on personal and familial sociodemographic and health-related factors. We analyzed the association between bereavement and AF using Poisson regression. Results: Loss of a parent or sibling was associated with an increased AF risk both when the loss occurred in childhood and in adulthood; the adjusted incident rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals were 1.24 (1.14–1.35) and 1.24 (1.16–1.33), respectively. Bereavement in childhood was associated with AF only if losses were due to cardiovascular diseases or other natural causes, while loss in adulthood was associated with AF not only in case of natural deaths, but also unnatural deaths. The associations did not differ substantially according to age at loss and whether the deceased was a parent or a sibling. Conclusions: Bereavement both in childhood and in adulthood was associated with an increased AF risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: We aimed to investigate whether the death of a child, one of the most severe stressors, is associated with the risk of heart failure (HF). Methods and results: We conducted a population‐based cohort study involving parents of live‐born children recorded in the Danish and Swedish Medical Birth Registers during 1973–2016 and 1973–2014, respectively (n = 6 717 349). We retrieved information on child death, HF diagnosis and sociodemographic characteristics of the parents from several nationwide registries. We performed Poisson regression models to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for HF in relation to bereavement. A total of 129 829 (1.9%) parents lost at least one child during the follow‐up. Bereaved parents had a 35% higher risk of HF than the non‐bereaved (IRR 1.35, 95% CI 1.29–1.41; p < 0.001). The increased HF risk was observed not only when the child died due to cardiovascular or other natural causes, but also when the loss was due to unnatural causes. The association tended to be U‐shaped when we categorized the exposed parents by the number of remaining live children at loss or by the age of the deceased child. Conclusion: We found that the death of a child was associated with an increased risk of HF. The finding that not only cardiovascular and other natural deaths, but also unnatural deaths were associated with HF suggests that stress‐related mechanisms may contribute to the development of HF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims We aimed to investigate whether the death of a child, one of the most severe stressors, is associated with the risk of heart failure (HF). Methods and results We conducted a population-based cohort study involving parents of live-born children recorded in the Danish and Swedish Medical Birth Registers during 1973-2016 and 1973-2014, respectively (n = 6717 349). We retrieved information on child death, HF diagnosis and sociodemographic characteristics of the parents from several nationwide registries. We performed Poisson regression models to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for HF in relation to bereavement. A total of 129 829 (1.9%) parents lost at least one child during the follow-up. Bereaved parents had a 35% higher risk of HF than the non-bereaved (IRR 1.35, 95% CI 1.29-1.41; p<0.001). The increased HF risk was observed not only when the child died due to cardiovascular or other natural causes, but also when the loss was due to unnatural causes. The association tended to be U-shaped when we categorized the exposed parents by the number of remaining live children at loss or by the age of the deceased child. Conclusion We found that the death of a child was associated with an increased risk of HF. The finding that not only cardiovascular and other natural deaths, but also unnatural deaths were associated with HF suggests that stress-related mechanisms may contribute to the development of HF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gender differences in premature mortality rates and in the size of socioeconomic inequalities in mortality vary across countries. Purpose: We aimed to quantify the gender differences in the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and premature all-cause mortality and to analyse whether psychosocial factors might associate between SES and mortality among men and women separately in the middle-aged Hungarian population. Method: Men ( n = 1130) and women ( n = 1529), aged 40-69 years, participants in the Hungarian Epidemiological Panel (2002) were followed up for 3.5 years for total mortality. Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the association between several socioeconomic measures and total death. Results: During the follow-up, 99 men (8.8%) and 53 women (3.5%) died. The age-adjusted hazard ratios and the Rothman's synergy indexes showed that each measure of socioeconomic position was more deleterious in men compared with women. When investigating potential explanatory factors for the SES-mortality association, we found that adjustment for severe depression resulted in the most pronounced reduction in the regression coefficients for the association between most socioeconomic factors and male premature death. There was no indication that depression would mediate between SES and mortality in women. Work stress factors, poor lifestyle and low social support also contributed to the explanation of the link between socioeconomic disadvantage and premature death in men. Conclusion: Middle-aged Hungarian men seem to be considerably more vulnerable to the chronic stress of material disadvantage than women. This effect modification by gender might partly be explained by a stronger connection between low SES and depressive symptoms in men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been increasing in children, adolescents, and young adults in recent decades. Exposure to adverse intrauterine environment in fetal life may contribute to the elevated risk of early-onset CVD. Many studies have shown that maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are associated with increased risks of congenital heart disease, high blood pressure, increased BMI, and systemic vascular dysfunction in offspring. However, empirical evidence on the association between prenatal exposure to maternal HDP and early-onset CVD in childhood and adolescence remains limited.Methods and Findings: We conducted a population-based cohort study using Danish national health registers, including 2,491,340 individuals born in Denmark from 1977 to 2018. Follow-up started at birth and ended at the first diagnosis of CVD, emigration, death, or 31 December 2018, whichever came first. Exposure of maternal HDP was categorized as preeclampsia or eclampsia (n = 68,387), gestational hypertension (n = 18,603), and pregestational hypertension (n = 15,062). Outcome was the diagnosis of early-onset CVD from birth to young adulthood (up to 40 years old). We performed Cox proportional hazards regression to evaluate the associations and whether the association differed by maternal history of CVD or diabetes before childbirth. We further assessed the association by timing of onset and severity of preeclampsia. The median follow-up time was 18.37 years, and 51.3% of the participants were males. A total of 4,532 offspring in the exposed group (2.47 per 1,000 person-years) and 94,457 in the unexposed group (2.03 per 1,000 person-years) were diagnosed with CVD. We found that exposure to maternal HDP was associated with an increased risk of early-onset CVD (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.23; 95% CI = 1.19 to 1.26; P < 0.001). The HRs for preeclampsia or eclampsia, gestational hypertension, and pregestational hypertension were 1.22 (95% CI, 1.18 to 1.26; P < 0.001), 1.25 (95% CI, 1.17 to 1.34; P < 0.001), and 1.28 (95% CI, 1.15 to 1.42; P < 0.001), respectively. We also observed increased risks for type-specific CVDs, in particular for hypertensive disease (HR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.96 to 2.27; P < 0.001) and myocardial infarction (HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.12 to 1.98; P = 0.007). Strong associations were found among offspring of mothers with CVD history (HR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.41 to 1.98; P < 0.001) or comorbid diabetes (HR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.34 to 1.83; P < 0.001). When considering timing of onset and severity of preeclampsia on offspring CVD, the strongest association was observed for early-onset and severe preeclampsia (HR, 1.48, 95% CI, 1.30 to 1.67; P < 0.001). Study limitations include the lack of information on certain potential confounders (including smoking, physical activity, and alcohol consumption) and limited generalizability in other countries with varying disparities in healthcare.Conclusions: Offspring born to mothers with HDP, especially mothers with CVD or diabetes history, were at increased risks of overall and certain type-specific early-onset CVDs in their first decades of life. Further research is warranted to better understand the mechanisms underlying the relationship between maternal HDP and early-onset CVD in offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The death of a child is an extreme life event with potentially long-term health consequences. Knowledge about its association with ischemic heart diseases (IHDs) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI), however, is very limited. We investigated whether the death of an offspring is associated with the risk of IHD and AMI.Methods and Findings: We studied parents of live-born children recorded in the Danish (1973 to 2016) and the Swedish (1973 to 2014) Medical Birth Registers (n = 6,711,952; mean age at baseline 31 years, 53% women). We retrieved information on exposure, outcomes, and covariates by linking individual-level information from several nationwide registers. We analyzed the abovementioned associations using Poisson regression. A total of 126,522 (1.9%) parents lost at least 1 child during the study period. Bereaved parents had a higher risk of IHD and AMI than the nonbereaved [incidence rate ratios (IRRs) (95% confidence intervals (CIs)): 1.20 (1.18 to 1.23), P < 0.001 and 1.21 (1.17 to 1.25), P < 0.001, respectively]. The association was present not only in case of losses due to CVD or other natural causes, but also in case of unnatural deaths. The AMI risk was highest in the first week after the loss [IRR (95% CI): 3.67 (2.08 to 6.46), P < 0.001], but a 20% to 40% increased risk was observed throughout the whole follow-up period. Study limitations include the possibility of residual confounding by socioeconomic, lifestyle, or health-related factors and the potentially limited generalizability of our findings outside Scandinavia.Conclusions: The death of an offspring was associated with an increased risk of IHD and AMI. The finding that the association was present also in case of losses due to unnatural causes, which are less likely to be confounded by cardiovascular risk factors clustering in families, suggests that stress-related mechanisms may also contribute to the observed associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background We analyzed the association between light-to-moderate alcohol intake and the risk of heart failure (HF). Methods and results We studied 60,665 individuals free of HF who provided information on alcohol consumption in a population-based cohort study conducted in 1995–97 in Norway. Sociodemographic factors, cardiovascular risk factors and common chronic disorders were assessed by questionnaires and/or by a clinical examination. The cohort was followed for a first HF event for an average of 11.2 ± 3.0 years. Mean alcohol consumption was 2.95 ± 4.5 g/day; 1588 HF cases occurred during follow-up. The quantity of alcohol consumption was inversely associated with incident HF in this low-drinking population. The risk was lowest for consumption over three but less than six drinks/week; the multivariate hazard ratio when comparing this category to non-drinkers was 0.67 (95% CI: 0.50–0.92). Among problem drinkers based on CAGE questionnaires, total consumption showed no favorable association with HF, even when overall consumption was otherwise moderate. Excluding former drinkers and controlling for common chronic diseases had minimal effect on these associations. Frequent alcohol consumption, i.e. more than five times/month, was associated with the lowest HF risk; the adjusted hazard ratio comparing this group to alcohol intake less than once/month was 0.83 (95% CI: 0.68–1.03). We found no evidence for a differential effect according to beverage type, nor that the competing risks of death from other causes modified the association. Conclusions Frequent light-to-moderate alcohol consumption without problem drinking was associated with a lower HF risk in this population characterized by a low average alcohol intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prenatal stress has been associated to a number of neuropsychiatric diseases but its role on the development of eating disorders (ED) remains unknown. Infants and toddlers with feeding or eating disorders are also at an increased risk of such diseases in later childhood and adolescence. We aimed to examine whether prenatal stress following maternal bereavement is associated with ED in infants and toddlers. Methods: This population-based cohort study included children born from 1977 to 2008 in Denmark (N = 2,127,126) and from 1977 to 2006 in Sweden (N = 2,974,908). Children were categorized as exposed if they were born to mothers who lost a close relative one year prior to or during pregnancy and were categorized as unexposed otherwise. They were followed until the age of 3 for a first diagnosis of ED. Poisson regression models were used to examine incidence rate ratio (IRR) between the exposed and the unexposed cohort. Results: A total of 9,403 ED cases were identified and 179 of whom were in the exposed cohort. Offspring born to mothers bereaved by loss of a core family member (older child or spouse) within the six months before pregnancy had a higher risk of ED than the unexposed offspring (IRR: 1.63, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.07-2.47). In stratified analyses, bereavement during the six months before pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of ED in boys (IRR: 2.21, 95% CI: 1.28-3.82), but not in girls (IRR: 1.18, 95% CI: 0.61-2.27). Discussion: This is the first population-based study to explore the association between prenatal stress and the risk of ED in infants and toddlers within two Nordic countries. This study added new evidence of early life stress for etiology of ED while the potential mechanism still needs further studies. Conclusions: Prenatal stress following maternal bereavement by loss of a core family member is associated with an increased risk of ED among infants and toddlers. The six months before conception may be a susceptible time window, especially for boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Although a number of epidemiological studies have found an association between socioeconomic status (SES) indices such as income and education and coronary morbidity and mortality, few have looked at health consequences arising from actually experiencing financial shortcomings. The objective of the present study was to examine whether financial strain predicts recurrent coronary artery disease (CAD) events among women with established CAD. Methods: Two hundred two women (mean age 62±9 years) hospitalized for an acute coronary event were followed over a period of 3.5 years. Demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle-related, psychosocial and biological characteristics were obtained by means of questionnaires and clinical examination. Data on recurrent cardiac events were collected from the Swedish discharge and death registers. Results: Women experiencing financial strain over the past year had an increased risk for recurrent events, i.e. the combination of all-cause mortality, new acute myocardial infarction and unstable angina pectoris during the follow-up with an unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 3.2 (95% CI 1.6–6.6), and a HR of 2.76 (95% CI 1.02–7.50) after controlling for education, household income, age, cohabiting status, inclusion diagnosis and rehabilitation therapy. Adjustment for potential mediators, i.e. psychosocial factors, lipids, diabetes mellitus, smoking, body-mass index, blood pressure, physical activity, alcohol consumption, participation in other cardiac rehabilitation programs did not alter the results significantly. Conclusions: Financial strain was a predictor for recurrent events among women with CAD, independently of commonly used SES indicators such as education and household income. Future studies will have to explore the mechanism behind this association. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]