A new report says that women who do not have children may die earlier than those who do. Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark looked at over 21,000 couples between 1994 and 2005. They all tried to have children, without success. The women all went to special clinics for IVF treatment – a technique where doctors fertilize the woman's egg in a laboratory. The researchers said that women who could not have children were four times likelier than mothers to die early. Some doctors have said the report might cause childless women to worry about dying early. The truth is there is a very small risk of an early death. Just 316 women died during the 11-year study. Very few of those died earlier than average.
一份新的報告稱,沒有生小孩的女性比生小孩的女性更早去世。來自丹麥奧胡斯大學的研究人員在1994年和2005年間調(diào)查了超過2.1萬名夫妻。他們都曾努力想要生小孩,但是失敗了。所有女性都曾到特別門診接受了試管嬰兒IVF治療——醫(yī)生在實驗室中使女性的卵子受精。研究人員表示,沒有生小孩的女性比做了母親的女性早逝的可能性高四倍。一些醫(yī)生表示,該報告可能會導致沒有孩子的女性擔心早逝風險。事實是,早逝的風險非常低。在11年的研究過程中,只有316名女性死亡。其中幾乎沒有人的死亡年齡比平均年齡早。
One critic of the report said the study was very misleading. Dr Ingrid Collins, a psychologist, told the BBC: "This is a very specific situation of people who are trying to have children. The study's findings cannot be used to talk about the whole general population." She added: "People having IVF tend to be desperate for a child. If they are unsuccessful, they may be depressed. It may be this depression rather than the childlessness that causes an earlier death." Another psychologist, Dr Helen Nightingale, agreed, saying: "Being childless without a doubt reduces your fight for life….The support of a family, the focus on your children and grandchildren, and the desire to watch how they turn out drives your will to survive."
該報告的一位批評人士表示,這份研究非常具有誤導性。心理學家Ingrid Collins博士告訴BBC:“這只是針對努力想生小孩的非常特別的人群。這項研究的結(jié)果不能適用于整個人群。”她補充說:“進行試管嬰兒手術(shù)的人非常渴望生孩子。如果沒有成功,他們就會抑郁。導致早亡的或許是抑郁,而不是沒有孩子。”另外一位心理學家Helen Nightingale博士贊同她的說法。她說:“沒有孩子毫無疑問會讓你的生活缺少斗志。家人的支持,對孩子和孫子的關(guān)注以及看著他們長大的渴望都會讓你更想生存下去。”