Hospitalisation increases partner's risk of death

A nine year study of half a million elderly US couples shows that hospitalisation of one person increased the risk of death for the partner.

The study shows that the risk of death after a spouse was hospitalised was highest in the first month and remained high for up to two years after the spouse's hospitalisation. Mental impairment in the hospitalised spouse caused higher mortality in the partner than physical impairment of the hospitalised spouse (New England Journal of Medicine 2006;354:719-30).

“We've known for 150 years that the death of a spouse increases the risk of death in the partner. What we have not known is that illness in a spouse increases …