Parents losing a baby before its first birthday more likely to die early

Parents who lose a baby before its first birthday are likely to be stricken with further years of woe.

Research published on the BMJ in Supportive & Palliative Care online, finds that parents losing a baby during the first 12 months of its life are more likely to die from an early death.

Mothers in particular were found to be especially prone, with those living in England and Wales more than four times as likely to die in the first 15 years after their baby’s death.

After this time, they were still found to be 1.5 times more likely to die than other mothers who had not lost a child during the first year.

Parents in Scotland were found to be more than twice as likely to die or become widowed during the same time frame.

The authors say they did not have enough data to rule out the number of suicides, but suggest that the stress caused by bereavement may dampen down the immune system over time.