An epidemiological review of the mortality of bereavement

Epidemiological literature revealing excess mortality in the newly widowed is reviewed. The risk varies by age and sex. Younger persons and men are at higher risk. There are manifold specific causes of death characterized by conditions manifest in middle and late life. Cause specificity also varies by sex. Methodological problems in this literature are mitigated by application of varied methodology and replication of basic findings. Socioeconomic status and "social" stress are not well controlled as independent variables. Nevertheless, they probably do not explain the large relative risk of mortality among the bereaved. Pathogenetic mechanisms resulting from a loss are probably twofold: physiologic changes associated with the loss response and behavioral changes that comprise health maintenance or chronic disease management. Because of its important as a health problems, as a fundamental human reaction, and as a research strategy for the basic psychosomatic hypothesis, bereavement is a prime target of investigation.