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Spousal bereavement and its effects on later life physical and cognitive capability: the Tromsø study.
- Source :
- GeroScience; Dec2024, Vol. 46 Issue 6, p6055-6069, 15p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Spousal bereavement is associated with health declines and increased mortality risk, but its specific impact on physical and cognitive capabilities is less studied. A historical cohort study design was applied including married Tromsø study participants (N=5739) aged 50–70 years with baseline self-reported overall health and health-related factors and measured capability (grip strength, finger tapping, digit symbol coding, and short-term recall) at follow-up. Participants had data from Tromsø4 (1994–1995) and Tromsø5 (2001), or Tromsø6 (2007–2008) and Tromsø7 (2015–2016). Propensity score matching, adjusted for baseline confounders (and baseline capability in a subset), was used to investigate whether spousal bereavement was associated with poorer subsequent capability. Spousal bereavement occurred for 6.2% on average 3.7 years (SD 2.0) before the capability assessment. There were no significant bereavement effects on subsequent grip strength, immediate recall, or finger-tapping speed. Without adjustment for baseline digit symbol coding test performance, there was a negative significant effect on the digit symbol coding test (ATT −1.33; 95% confidence interval −2.57, −0.10), but when baseline digit symbol coding test performance was taken into account in a smaller subsample, using the same set of matching confounders, there was no longer any association (in the subsample ATT changed from −1.29 (95% CI −3.38, 0.80) to −0.04 (95% CI −1.83, 1.75). The results in our study suggest that spousal bereavement does not have long-term effects on the intrinsic capacity components physical or cognition capability to a notable degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 25092715
- Volume :
- 46
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- GeroScience
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 180403258
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-024-01150-y