Suicide After Partner's Death in the Elderly Population: Results From a Nationwide Cohort Study in Italy.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the effect of partner loss on suicide mortality for surviving partners in the elderly Italian population and to explore differences according to sex and time elapsed since the loss. DESIGN: This was a historical cohort study. SETTING: All Italian residents registered by the 15th Italian Population Census (9 October 2011) were linked to emigration records and death certificates for 2012-2017 to track migration, vital status, and cause of death. PARTICIPANTS: 5,068,414 individuals living as a couple, as registered in the census, and aged ≥69 years on January 1, 2012. MEASUREMENTS Mortality rate ratios (MRR) estimated through Poisson regression models were used to compare suicide mortality at age ≥75 years between subjects who experienced partner loss and those who did not. RESULTS: Among people who experienced partner loss, there were 383 suicide deaths in men and 90 in women. Suicide mortality was higher in older men and women who experienced the loss compared to those who did not, and the impact of the spouse loss on mortality was stronger in men (age-adjusted MRR=2.83) than in women (1.41). Among men the excess risk was particularly high during the first year following the loss; in women, no substantial differences in the excess risk were observed over the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Study findings provide evidence of the sex differences in the impact of spouse loss based on data from a large national cohort and reinforce the need for monitoring suicide risk in recently widowed older people.