RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Avoidable mortality among parents whose children were placed in care in Sweden: a population-based study
JF Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
JO J Epidemiol Community Health
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 1091
OP 1098
DO 10.1136/jech-2018-210672
VO 72
IS 12
A1 Elizabeth Wall-Wieler
A1 Bo Vinnerljung
A1 Can Liu
A1 Leslie L Roos
A1 Anders Hjern
YR 2018
UL http://jech.bmj.com/content/72/12/1091.abstract
AB Background Separation from one’s child can have significant consequences for parental health and well-being. We aimed to investigate whether parents whose children were placed in care had higher rates of avoidable mortality.Methods Data were obtained from the Swedish national registers. Mortality rates among parents whose children were placed in care between 1990 and 2012 (17 503 mothers, 18 298 fathers) were compared with a 1:5 matched cohort of parents whose children were not placed. We computed rate differences and HRs of all-cause and avoidable mortality.Results Among mothers, deaths due to preventable causes were 3.09 times greater (95% CI 2.24 to 4.26) and deaths due to amenable causes were 3.04 times greater (95% CI 2.03 to 4.57) for those whose children were placed in care. Among fathers, death due to preventable causes were 1.64 times greater (95% CI 1.32 to 2.02) and deaths due to amenable causes were 1.84 times greater (95% CI 1.33 to 2.55) for those whose children were placed in care. Avoidable mortality rates were higher among mothers whose children were young when placed in care and among parents whose children were all placed in care.Conclusions Parents who had a child placed in out-of-home care are at higher risk of avoidable mortality. Interventions targeting mothers who had a child aged less than 13 placed in care, and parents whose children were all placed in care could have the greatest impact in reducing avoidable mortality in this population.