Background: Previous studies on mortality of widowed individuals have produced varying estimates of mortality after the death of a spouse. This variation is because of the various data types used and methodologies applied, as well as to the failure to account for sources of bias.
Methods: We followed all married individuals in Norway (1,801,456 individuals) for 32 years, and information on marital status and death was collected for use in a new application of survival analysis in this field of research.
Results: We compared mortality of widowed individuals with that of married individuals. Widowed men and women had hazard ratios of 1.34 (95% confidence interval 1.31, 1.36) and 1.29 (1.26, 1.31), respectively, for the first year after spousal death. For the same period, values were highest in ages 60-64 years with 1.78 (1.57, 1.98) in men and 1.50 (1.35, 1.65) in women. Values dropped gradually with age and more rapidly in men than women to a low for ages 85-89 years of 1.24 (1.19, 1.29) in men and 1.25 (1.20, 1.31) in women. The risk was much higher 1 to 7 days after spousal death (1.69 [1.49, 1.88] in men and 1.76 [1.56, 1.96] in women), then it dropped during the first year and from then on remained stable to year 10, which was the last year considered.
Conclusion: A considerable excess mortality risk was observed in widowed men and women from immediately after the loss of a spouse and for the next 10 years.