Characteristics of study participants according to exposure to death of a child
| Variables | Exposure to the loss of a child | |
| Unexposed (n=2 740 028) | Exposed (n=64 216) | |
| N (%) | N (%) | |
| All cohort | ||
| Age at study entry/mean (SD), years | 29.0 (5.4) | 28.5 (5.8) |
| Sex | ||
| Men | 1 362 908 (49.7) | 29 742 (46.3) |
| Women | 1 377 120 (50.3) | 34 474 (53.7) |
| Country of birth | ||
| Denmark | 2 428 681 (88.6) | 58 462 (91.0) |
| Other countries | 311 347 (11.4) | 5754 (9.0) |
| Year of entry in the study | ||
| Before 1980 | 698 879 (25.5) | 31 510 (49.1) |
| 1980–1989 | 502 426 (18.3) | 15 724 (24.5) |
| 1990–1999 | 596 641 (21.8) | 9992 (15.6) |
| 2000–2009 | 565 652 (20.6) | 5140 (8.0) |
| After 2009 | 376 430 (13.7) | 1850 (2.9) |
| Marital status at baseline* | ||
| Married or in registered partnership | 1 402 329 (51.2) | 34 977 (54.5) |
| Single, widowed or divorced | 451 847 (16.5) | 7073 (11.0) |
| Missing | 885 852 (32.3) | 22 166 (34.5) |
| Highest education at baseline (in years)† | ||
| 0–9 | 711 221 (26.0) | 26 339 (41.0) |
| 10–14 | 1 276 509 (46.6) | 25 956 (40.4) |
| ≥15 | 582 730 (21.3) | 8314 (12.9) |
| Missing | 169 568 (6.2) | 3607 (5.6) |
| Household income at baseline‡ | ||
| Low tertile | 618 113 (22.6) | 11 175 (17.4) |
| Middle tertile | 619 603 (22.6) | 9691 (15.1) |
| High tertile | 620 919 (22.7) | 8098 (12.6) |
| Missing | 881 393 (32.2) | 35 252 (54.9) |
| History of CVD at baseline | ||
| No | 2 679 130 (97.8) | 63 338 (98.6) |
| Yes | 60 898 (2.2) | 878 (1.4) |
| History of psychiatric disorders at baseline | ||
| No | 2 663 390 (97.8) | 63 151 (98.3) |
| Yes | 76 638 (2.8) | 1065 (1.7) |
| Parents’ history of CVD§ | ||
| No | 1 227 013 (44.8) | 25 470 (39.7) |
| Yes | 671 916 (24.5) | 8851 (13.8) |
| Missing | 841 099 (30.7) | 29 895 (46.6) |
| Sibling’s history of CVD§ | ||
| No | 1 794 567 (65.5) | 33 222 (51.7) |
| Yes | 104 362 (3.8) | 1099 (1.7) |
| Missing | 841 099 (30.7) | 29 895 (46.6) |
| Maternal subcohort (n=1 411 594) | ||
| Maternal hypertension before childbirth | ||
| No | 1 350 442 (98.1) | 34 027 (98.7) |
| Yes | 26 678 (1.9) | 447 (1.3) |
| Maternal diabetes before childbirth | ||
| No | 1 368 559 (99.4) | 34 343 (99.6) |
| Yes | 8561 (0.6) | 131 (0.4) |
| Maternal smoking in early pregnancy¶ | ||
| No | 551 778 (40.1) | 5118 (14.8) |
| Yes | 135 176 (9.8) | 1918 (5.6) |
| Missing | 690 166 (50.1) | 27 438 (79.6) |
*The information on marital status was available since 1972.
†The information on education was available since 1980.
‡The information on income was available since 1980.
§The information on the linkage to parents and siblings was available since 1970, while on CVDs from 1977.
¶The reason for the high missing rate on maternal smoking is that information on this variable started to be registered in 1991 and even during subsequent years its coverage was not complete and varied over the years. A total of 885 643 women had at least one child in 1991 or later.
CVD, cardiovascular diseases; SD, standard deviation.