The impact of stroke on spousal and family income: a difference-in-difference study from Swedish national registries

To investigates the financial consequences in the overall population spouses of persons with stroke in Sweden as well as for subgroups based on spouses age, sex and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) of the person with stroke. The study population consists of spouses aged ≤ 60 during the year of their partner’s stroke event. Each spouse was matched to four reference individuals. This longitudinal registry data covers spouses and a reference population between 2005 and 2016. We use difference-in-differences to estimate the impact on individual income from paid work, disposable individual income, and disposable family income. The primary analysis shows a small and statistically insignificant decrease on spouses’ individual income from paid work and disposable individual income. In the subgroup analysis based on mRS, the largest effect is seen in mRS 4–5, where spouses’ individual income from paid work and disposable individual income increases after their partner’s stroke. Further, younger female spouses’ individual income from paid work decreases by 1 614 EUR (p = 0.008) on average. The financial consequences are small in the overall population of spouses. However, for some subgroups, younger women, and spouses of persons with stroke and mRS 4–5, the financial consequences are more prominent.