Spouses’ health: what happens beyond the widowhood effect?

Objectives. We focus on married couples, and we analyse how the susceptibility and survival of individuals can be influenced by the illnesses and death experienced by their spouses. Methods. We perform a cohort study following married couples (age 65–75 years) from 2001 to 2013. We monitor individual’s susceptibility status and three spouses’ illnesses (i.e. diabetes, cancer, and mental diseases). The methodology used is the Cox regression. Results. The initial cohort is composed of 22,639 couples. During the follow-up, 24% of the individuals dies, 91% experiences at least one susceptibility increase and 43% experiences one spouse’s illness. Results from the Cox regressions report a change in the individual health that is specifically related to the occurrence of the spouse’s diseases and death. Moreover, the three diseases hit individuals differently. Discussion. What emerges from this work is the importance of considering the mechanism of the widowhood effect with an extensive approach.