So you think Junior is taking years off your life? A study finds a strong positive link between reproduction and longevity. (click below to read more)
Past studies have come to similar conclusions. But this time researchers excluded people who didn't want children, in case that opinion might be an indicator of some other factor leading to earlier death. Using Danish data for 1994-2005, the scientists looked at 21,276 couples signed up for in vitro fertilization—a sure sign of wanting kids—and tracked them through 2008. During the study period, the ones who became parents were less likely to die.
In fact, childless women had a fourfold higher rate of death than those who bore children. The death rate for childless men was double that of biological fathers. Adoption was also associated with fewer deaths, particularly for fathers.
The effects remained after researchers adjusted for differences in age, income and health, all of which played only a slight role in the longevity gaps found in the study.
"Childlessness, Parental Mortality and Psychiatric Illness: a Natural Experiment Based on In Vitro Fertility Treatment and Adoption," Esben Agerbo, Preben Bo Mortensen and Trine Munk-Olsen, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (Dec. 5)
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