Journal Article

Widowhood and Mortality: A Meta-Analysis

Glymour, M. Maria, Subramanian, S. V., Moon, J. Robin, Kondo, Naoki

2011

Overview

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. 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). The results suggest that further studies should focus more on the mechanisms that generate this association especially among men.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Age / Age differences / Aged / Aging / Analysis / Behavior / Bereavement / Bias / Cohort analysis / Cohort Studies / Correlation analysis / Epidemiology / Female / Gender / Geriatrics / Gerontology / Grief / Heterogeneity / Humans / Longitudinal studies / Male / Marriage / Medicine / Men / Meta-analysis / Middle Aged / Mortality / Personal relationships / Public health / Regression analysis / Response rates / Risk Assessment - statistics & numerical data / Risk Factors / Sex Factors / Social and Behavioral Sciences / Social integration / Social sciences / Society / Sociodemographics / Statistical analysis / Studies / Survival Analysis / Time Factors / Widowhood / Widowhood - psychology / Widowhood - statistics & numerical data / Widows & widowers / Women / Young Adult