In the first half year after losing a spouse, hand meals, sleep, chronic-disease medicine, and follow-up visits to a fixed person

In the first half year after losing a spouse, the chance of dying in that same stretch is about 40% higher than for people who did not lose a spouse. After half a year it falls to about 15% higher. For men it is about 23% higher. For women the gap is small enough that it may only be a coincidence. What to do is put the medicine, the meals, and the follow-up visits on a specific person. Do not count on remembering them yourself.

Cost

No money. Find a specific person, a child, a sibling, or a friend, and have them come by or call on a regular schedule. The hard part is opening your mouth and handing this over.

Benefit

15 studies that registered people first and then followed them, 2263888 people taken together. When the spouse had been dead for less than 6 months, the mortality RR was 1.41 (95% CI 1.26–1.57), that is, the chance of dying in that same stretch was about 40% higher than for people who had not lost a spouse. After 6 months it was 1.14 (1.10–1.18), down to about 15% higher. For men the RR was 1.23 (1.18–1.28), about 23% higher. For women it was 1.04 (1.00–1.08, not statistically significant, that is, this small gap may only be a coincidence). Under 65 and 65 or older showed no clear difference. Another analysis pooled 123 papers, 1377 risk estimates, and over 500000000 people. After the differences in circumstances were leveled, the HR was 1.23 (1.19–1.28), that is, about 23% higher overall. Men were still higher than women. Men 1.27 (1.19–1.35), 27% higher. Women 1.15 (1.08–1.22), 15% higher.

Notes

These studies looked back through population records. Other factors come in and cannot be removed. A couple's way of living and their illnesses were already similar. "The first half year is much higher than what follows" is what the first pooled analysis got by splitting on time since the death. The second did not split on time since the death. It only split on how long the study followed people. Studies that followed only 6 months, taken together, had an HR of 1.58 (1.32–1.88). Studies that followed 16 to 20 years had 1.22 (1.02–1.47). The authors take this to mean the risk is highest in the first years after the death, and they also state that most studies were not starting the follow-up in the moment just after the death. Both point the same way, so the first half year is worth treating as a window of watching. Men have a higher risk, and they are also less likely to open their mouths and ask. If there is a widowed elder in the family, sort out accounts, guardianship, and the will together, as in section 17. If no such person can be found (living alone, a child already lost, or the children gone as well), hand this to the community and the phone; see item 6 of this section.

Sources · 2

1. Moon JR, et al. (2011). Widowhood and mortality: a meta-analysis. PLoS ONE. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023465
2. Shor E, et al. (2012). Widowhood and mortality: a meta-analysis and meta-regression. Demography. doi.org/10.1007/s13524-012-0096-x