Abstract

Objectives

This study considers whether experiencing the death of a child prior to midlife (by parental age 40) is associated with subsequent dementia risk, and how such losses, which are more common for black than for white parents, may add to racial disparities in dementia risk.

Methods

We use discrete-time event history models to predict dementia incidence among 9,276 non-Hispanic white and 2,182 non-Hispanic black respondents from the Health and Retirement Study, 2000–2014.

Results

Losing a child prior to midlife is associated with increased risk for later dementia, and adds to disparities in dementia risk associated with race. The death of a child is associated with a number of biosocial variables that contribute to subsequent dementia risk, helping to explain how the death of child may increase risk over time.

Discussion

The death of a child prior to midlife is a traumatic life course stressor with consequences that appear to increase dementia risk for both black and white parents, and this increased risk is explained by biosocial processes likely activated by bereavement. However, black parents are further disadvantaged in that they are more likely than white parents to experience the death of a child, and such losses add to the already substantial racial disadvantage in dementia risk.

中文翻译：

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中年之前儿童死亡、痴呆风险和种族差异。

 抽象的

 目标

这项研究考虑了在中年之前（父母 40 岁时）经历孩子的死亡是否与随后的痴呆风险相关，以及这种损失（这种情况在黑人父母中比白人父母更常见）如何可能会增加痴呆风险的种族差异。

 方法

我们使用离散时间事件历史模型来预测 2000-2014 年健康与退休研究中 9,276 名非西班牙裔白人和 2,182 名非西班牙裔黑人受访者的痴呆症发病率。

 结果

中年之前失去孩子与以后患痴呆症的风险增加有关，并增加了与种族相关的痴呆风险的差异。儿童的死亡与许多生物社会变量有关，这些变量会导致随后的痴呆风险，这有助于解释儿童的死亡如何随着时间的推移而增加风险。

 讨论

中年之前孩子的死亡是生命历程中的一种创伤性压力源，其后果似乎会增加黑人和白人父母患痴呆症的风险，而这种风险增加的原因可能是丧亲之痛可能激活的生物社会过程。然而，黑人父母的处境更加不利，因为他们比白人父母更有可能经历孩子的死亡，而这种损失加剧了痴呆症风险方面本已严重的种族劣势。