How the Death of a Child in a Vehicular Accident Affects Parents

The death of a child is one of life's most devastating events (NEJM JW Psychiatry Mar 18 2013). In a large-scale epidemiological study in Manitoba, researchers examined characteristics of all 1281 parents identified in governmental registries as suffering the death of a child via motor vehicle accident in 1996–2008; nonbereaved parents formed a matched comparison group. Records in the 2 years before and after the death were examined for physician-diagnosed psychiatric disorders (unipolar and bipolar depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and/or substance use disorders, suicide attempts, dementia) and physical illnesses (e.g., cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes).

At death, mean ages were 27 years in offspring (age <19, 26%) and 55 in pa…