Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Amanda Regodón Wallin
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Arvid Sjölander
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Unnur Valdimarsdóttir
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Center of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
Weimin Ye
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Katja Fall
Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
Catarina Almqvist
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Lung and Allergy Unit, Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Kamila Czene
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Fang Fang
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
A parental cancer diagnosis is psychologically straining for the whole family. We investigated whether a parental cancer diagnosis is associated with a higher-than-expected risk of injury among children by using a Swedish nationwide register-based cohort study. Compared to children without parental cancer, children with parental cancer had a higher rate of hospital contact for injury during the first year after parental cancer diagnosis (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.27, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.22-1.33), especially when the parent had a comorbid psychiatric disorder after cancer diagnosis (HR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.08-1.85). The rate increment declined during the second and third year after parental cancer diagnosis (HR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.07-1.14) and became null afterwards (HR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.99-1.03). Children with parental cancer also had a higher rate of repeated injuries than the other children (HR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.12-1.15). Given the high rate of injury among children in the general population, our findings may have important public health implications.
