Mortality after the Hospitalization of a Spouse

In this large study using Medicare data, hospitalization of patients was associated with increased mortality in their wives and husbands, and the adverse effect was independent of the effect of spousal death. The effect varied among illnesses; for example, a man's hospitalization for colon cancer did not increase his wife's risk of death, but his hospitalization for dementia had a substantial effect. Hospitalization of patients was associated with increased mortality in their wives and husbands, and the adverse effect was independent of the effect of spousal death. The health of people connected by a social tie may be interdependent. The effect of the death of one spouse on the risk of death in the other (i.e., the partner) — referred to as the bereavement effect — is the best-documented example of such interpersonal health effects. 1 , 2 The effect of illness in one spouse on the risk of illness in a partner is a further example. The latter phenomenon, sometimes termed caregiver burden, 3 , 4 has typically been studied as if it were unrelated to the bereavement effect. Indeed, most work has previously focused on how spousal illness worsens . . .