The death of a child is rated as the most severe stressful life event. Women have an increased mortality rate following the death of a child that is over 2.5 times that in males, and the increased rate of mortality lasts at least for 8 years. This is strong evidence that, compared to men, women have a larger, more damaging and longer lasting stress response to a stressful life event. The figure is for increased unnatural deaths in parents following the death of a child.