BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Children who lose a parent suddenly may suffer a "double whammy" to their mental and physical health -- from the shock of the loss and the inherited risks, researchers reported Monday in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

    They said the risk factors that contribute to many early deaths of parents -- such as mental illness or alcoholism -- can be passed on to children. Such children may be more vulnerable to the stresses of losing a parent, the researchers from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said.

    "Kids whose parents die early are at risk because the conditions that their parents have, that predispose their parents to early death, are also heritable and therefore they get both," said Dr. David Brent.

    Brent and colleagues studied 140 families in which one parent died prematurely and suddenly from suicide, accidental death, or sudden natural death.

    The researchers were looking inparticular for clues that the deceased parents may have passed a genetic or environmental tendency to their children, aged 7 to 25 at the time of the study.

    "Parents who die suddenly are likely to have higher-than-expected rates of psychiatric disorder. Mood,alcohol and substance abuse, and personality disorders convey an increased mortality not only from suicide but also from accidents and cardiovascular diseases," they wrote. They compared the bereaved families to 99 similar families with two living biological parents.

    Brent said his team did not study the children of parents who died but did not die suddenly.

    (Agencies)