Some epidemiologic aspects of the high mortality rate in the young widowed group

Abstract

The relationship between marital status and mortality appearing in statistical data published by the National Office of Vital Statistics on deaths and death rates in 1949–1951 by marital status, age, color, and sex was reviewed. The main feature was the lower death rate in the married group than in the single, widowed, or divorced, at every age. The outstanding excess risk of mortality among the young widowed was noted. This excess risk in the widowed under age 35, compared to the married, was greater than tenfold for at least one of the specific age-sex groups involved for several leading causes of death, including arteriosclerotic heart disease and vascular lesions of the central nervous system. Possible explanatory hypotheses were discussed. It seems unlikely that the several possible artificial factors mentioned, including the “selection” factor, could have accounted for more than a small part of the great excess risk noted in the young widowed for these several causes of death. Three biologic hypotheses were suggested in explanation of what appears to be a genuine association between young widowhood and subsequent mortality. These were called the 1. (1) “mutual selection of poor-risk mates,” 2. (2) “joint unfavorable environment,” and 3. (3) “effects of widowhood” hypotheses. Further studies, of both the retrospective and prospective types, were suggested to assess these hypotheses.