In Sickness and in Death: Spouses’ ills imperil partners’ survival

Among elderly people, a spouse’s hospitalization for certain ailments substantially raises his or her partner’s likelihood of dying, according to the largest study ever to quantify such effects. The risk is especially great within the first month after the spouse enters the hospital.

Partners died most frequently following their spouses’ hospitalizations for particularly disabling conditions, such as dementia, psychiatric illness, and hip or other bone fractures,

say medical sociologist Nicholas A.