A study on Swedish children born between 1973 and 1985 has demonstrated a "small but significant" spike in the risk of having mental ailments like schizophrenia, psychosis and bipolar disorder in children who are exposed to death at a young age.
Results from the study, carried out by researchers from the University of Manchester, also shows that the younger the child is when someone close to them dies, the higher the risk.
Of the 947,000 people who were analyzed, those who experienced death when they were less than three years old were the most impacted, according to a report from the Almagest.
One third of the subjects in the study had experienced bereavement before 13 years old. More than 15,000 had a loved one die in an accident, while 11,000 were exposed to suicide, the Almagest reported.
280,000 of the people involved in the study had a family member pass away from natural causes.
Out of the people who experienced death young, .4 percent became schizophrenic, while .17 percent developed affective psychotic disorders like bipolar and depression with psychosis.
Almagest reported that this number was notably higher than the number of kids who did not come face-to-face with death before 13 years old.
The study can be seen at bmj.com.
