Widowhood and mortality risk in a community sample of the elderly: a prospective study.
Mortality risk during early bereavement was examined in a community sample of 1046 married elderly persons 65 years and over, followed from 1982 to 1988. Cox' regression models with time-dependent covariates were computed to estimate mortality risk, while controlling for pre-widowhood sociodemographic and health-related variables. Elderly young-old (65-74) and old-old men (> or = 75) showed slightly elevated age-adjusted relative risks (RR) during the first 6 months of widowhood (RR = 1.69; 95% CI: 0.86-3.31 and RR = 1.79; 95% CI: 0.44-7.28 respectively). These RRs increased slightly after adjustment for pre-widowhood control variables. The age-adjusted RR during early widowhood for young-old women was 2.87 (% CI: 0.81-2.42), which increased to 3.86 (95% CI: 1.11-13.45) after adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related variables. This analysis stresses the usefulness of Cox' regression models with time-dependent covariates to calculate mortality risk for variable periods after onset of widowhood adjusted for pre-widowhood characteristics. However, the power of the study was limited, resulting in mostly insignificant risk estimates and wide confidence intervals.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.
C F
CF
Mendes de Leon
S V
SV
Kasl
S
S
Jacobs
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012306:Risk; D012737:Sex Factors; D012847:Single Person / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology