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Having Children May Increase Lifespan

The team found that the risk of death was not influenced by  the sex of the child.
The team found that the risk of death was not influenced by  the sex of the child.

Having children can increase life expectancy, especially in old age, a new study has found.

Parents aged 60 may live up to two years longer than their childless counterparts, according to researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

Dr. Karin Modig and her team used national registry data to analyze the lifespan of more than 1.4 million elderly men and women in relation to their marital status and whether they had children.

They found the risk of death was lower in people with at least one child – an effect more pronounced in men than women.

“At 60 years of age, the difference in life expectancy was two years for men and 1.5 years for women,” said the study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Researchers said the study is the first to examine whether the association between longevity and parenthood grew stronger with age.

When influencing factors such as education were taken into account, the difference in death risk did increase with age between parents and non-parents.

 “Children can provide support in navigating the healthcare system, how to take medication, providing emotional support,” Dr Modig told The Independent.

A follow-up study is planned to examine the effect of these aspects in more detail, she added.

Contrary to previous research, the team found that the risk of death was not influenced by the sex of a child.

The team suggests that previous studies may have uncovered a link between the sex of a child and increased parental lifespan because they focused on the social benefits associated with having a daughter.

The study examined records of 704,481 men and 725,290 women born between 1911 and 1925 living in Sweden.

Aged 60, men with children could expect to live for another 20.2 years, whereas men without children could expect a further 18.4 years. Women aged 60 with children could expect to live a further 24.6 years, whereas those without could expect another 23.1 years.

At the age of 80, men with children could expect to live a further 7.7 years, while those without could live seven years. For women aged 80 with children, they could expect a further 9.5 years, while those without could live a further 8.9 years.

Modig said further research was planned to analyze whether characteristics of the children such as their education levels had an effect on their parents’ life expectancies.

“We did a rough estimate of distance to the children, which surprisingly didn’t affect much. Most children do live close to their parents; only a small proportion lives far away.”

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