Early mortality and primary causes of death in mothers of children with intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder: a retrospective cohort study

• Published in: PloS one 2014-12, Vol.9 (12), p.e113430-e113430
• Main Authors: Fairthorne, Jenny, Hammond, Geoff, Bourke, Jenny, Jacoby, Peter, Leonard, Helen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Analysis; Autism; Behavior disorders; Cancer; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Cause of Death; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - epidemiology; Children; Children & youth; Childrens health; Cohort analysis; Comorbidity; Confidence Intervals; Death; Demographics; Demography; Developmental disabilities; Down syndrome; Emotional disorders; Families & family life; Female; Health aspects; Health hazards; Humans; Intellectual disabilities; Intellectual Disability - epidemiology; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Mathematical analysis; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental disorders; Mental health care; Middle Aged; Mortality; Mothers; Mothers - statistics & numerical data; Parents & parenting; Population; Population studies; Proportional Hazards Models; Retrospective Studies; Sleep; Smoking; Stress; Studies; Western Australia - epidemiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113430

Mothers of children with intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have poorer health than other mothers. Yet no research has explored whether this poorer health is reflected in mortality rates or whether certain causes of death are more likely. We aimed to calculate the hazard ratios for death and for the primary causes of death in mothers of children with intellectual disability or ASD compared to other mothers. The study population comprised all mothers of live-born children in Western Australia from 1983-2005. We accessed state-wide databases which enabled us to link socio-demographic details, birth dates, diagnoses of intellectual disability or ASD in the children and dates and causes of death for all mothers who had died prior to 2011. Using Cox Regression with death by any cause and death by each of the three primary causes as the event of interest, we calculated hazard ratios for death for mothers of children intellectual disability or ASD compared to other mothers. During the study period, mothers of children with intellectual disability or ASD had more than twice the risk of death. Mothers of children with intellectual disability were 40% more likely to die of cancer; 150% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease and nearly 200% more likely to die from misadventure than other mothers. Due to small numbers, only hazard ratios for cancer were calculated for mothers of children with ASD. These mothers were about 50% more likely to die from cancer than other mothers. Possible causes and implications of our results are discussed. Similar studies, pooling data from registries elsewhere, would improve our understanding of factors increasing the mortality of mothers of children with intellectual disability or ASD. This would allow the implementation of informed services and interventions to improve these mothers' longevity.