TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Risk of hospitalization for cancer, musculoskeletal disorders, injuries, and poisonings surrounding widowhood
JO  - American journal of epidemiology
A1  - Einiö, Elina
A1  - Martikainen, Pekka
SP  - 2623
EP  - 2632
VL  - 187
IS  - 12
N2  - Psychological distress has been indicated to affect the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and external causes. Mortality from these major causes of death is also known to be elevated after widowhood when distress is at a heightened level. Surprisingly little is known about changes in health other than mental and cardiac health shortly before widowhood. We used longitudinal data of widowing (n=19,185) and continuously married individuals (n=105,939) in Finland (1996-2002) to assess the risk of hospitalization for cancer and the external and musculoskeletal causes surrounding widowhood or random dates. The study employed population-averaged logit models for longitudinal data of older adults aged 65 and over. The results show that hospitalization for injuries had already increased prior to widowhood and clearly peaked after it. The increases were largely related to falls. A similar increasing pattern of findings was not found around a random date for a group of continuously married individuals. Hospitalizations for cancer and musculoskeletal disorders appeared to be unrelated to the process of widowhood. Hospitalizations for poisonings increased after widowhood. The results imply that the process of widowhood is multifaceted and that various types of health changes should be studied separately and already before the actual loss.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0002-9262
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwy182
ID  - ref1
ER  -