Adult offspring and their socioeconomic resources for development and survival of stroke: A Swedish and Danish nationwide register-based study

Abstract

Aims:

To explore the relationships between adult offspring’s socioeconomic resources and the development of stroke and survival after stroke among older adults in Denmark and Sweden.

Methods:

The study included 1,464,740 Swedes and 835,488 Danes who had turned 65 years old between 2000 and 2015. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to analyse incident stroke and survival after stroke until 2020.

Results:

Lower level of offspring’s education, occupation and income were associated with higher hazards of stroke among both men and women in Sweden and Denmark. Associations with offspring’s education, occupation and income were most consistent for death after the acute phase and for educational level. From one to five years after stroke and compared with a high educational level of offspring, low and medium educational level were associated with 1.34 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11; 1.62) and 1.18 (95% CI: 1.10; 1.27) as well as 1.26 (95% CI: 1.06; 1.48) and 1.14 (1.07; 1.21) times higher hazard of death in Swedish women and men, respectively. The corresponding estimates in the Danish population were 1.36 (1.20; 1.53) and 1.10 (1.01; 1.20) for women and 1.23 (95% CI: 1.11; 1.32) and 1.13 (95% CI: 1.05; 1.21) for men.

Conclusions:

Adult offspring socioeconomic resources are, independently of how we measure them and of individual socioeconomic characteristics, associated with development of stroke in old age in both Denmark and Sweden. The relationships between offspring socioeconomic resources and death after stroke are present especially after the acute phase and most pronounced for educational level as a measure of offspring socioeconomic resources.

Keywords

Intergenerational relationships social inequality stroke mortality

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