title: Widowhood and mortality: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While the "widowhood effect" is well known, there is substantial heterogeneity in the magnitude of effects reported in different studies. We conducted a meta-analysis of widowhood and mortality, focusing on longitudinal studies with follow-up from the time of bereavement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to calculate the overall relative risk (RR) for subsequent mortality among 2,263,888 subjects from 15 prospective cohort studies. We found a statistically significant positive association between widowhood and mortality, but the widowhood effect was stronger in the period earlier than six months since bereavement (overall RR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.26, 1.57) compared to the effect after six months (overall RR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.18). Meta-regression showed that the widowhood effect was not different for those aged younger than 65 years compared to those older than 65 (P = 0.25). There was, however, a difference in the magnitude of the widowhood effect by gender; for women the RR was not statistically significantly different from the null (overall RR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.08), while it was for men (overall RR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.18, 1.28).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that further studies should focus more on the mechanisms that generate this association especially among men.
authors.affiliation: Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: J Robin
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: M Maria
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Glymour
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Subramanian
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001601:Bereavement; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D017805:Widowhood / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult