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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Increased hospitalization risk for recently widowed older women and protective effects of social contacts | | Author(s) | James N Laditka, Sarah B Laditka |
| Journal title | Journal of Women & Aging, vol 15, no 2/3, 2003 |
| Pages | pp 7-28 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Widows ; Bereavement ; Admission [hospitals] ; Social contacts ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | This US study examines effects of recent widowhood on health for a nationally representative sample of older women. Mediating effects of social connectedness on the health of recently widowed women are also explored. The authors use data from 1984-1990 Longitudinal Study of Aging and Medicare claims, from which discrete time hazard models estimate the risk of hospital admission for any 30-day period for the 1,138 women who were married at the time of the baseline survey. Compared to women who are not recently widowed, those recently widowed have a 40% higher risk of admission to hospital. Social connectedness, measured by having phoned a friend/neighbour or family member in the period prior to the baseline survey, significantly decreases risk of admission to hospital for the recently widowed. The findings indicate that recent widowhood has a large adverse effect on the health of older women. Results highlight the need to provide additional support to recently widowed older women. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-040113208 A |
| Classmark | SP: DW: LD:QKH: TOA: 3J: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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