A new study finds that couples who remain childless are at a higher risk of early death.
A new study finds that couples who remain childless are at a higher risk of early death.
A new study by Danish researchers has found that parents who are unsuccessful in having children are at a higher risk of premature death.


The study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health on December 6, found that the death rate among childless parents was significantly higher than those with children, especially in women, adding that adoption may decrease the risk.

The researchers studied over 21,000 childless couples in Denmark who had been receiving treatment for infertility from 1994 to 2005.

They found that while over 15,000 children were born during these years, 1,600 couples tried adoption. Some 220 men and about 100 women died, and 700 women and nearly 550 men were diagnosed with a mental disease.

The study suggested that the premature death rate from circulatory disease, cancer and accidents among childless women was four times higher than those who had been mothers. For childless men, the death rate was twice higher than biological fathers.

"This study finds that men and particularly women who become parents have a decreased rate of death," the study said.

"Mindful that association is not [the same as] causation, our results suggest that the mortality rates are higher in the childless," it added.

The authors of the study also said that the early death rate was cut in half among childless women who adopted a child. Meanwhile, the death rate among childless men was twice higher than those who became fathers by adoption.