Scientists study spousal illness effects

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Research by Harvard and Pennsylvania Universities find that for older people, the hospitalization of a spouse can harm the well-being of a partner.

In the largest study ever to quantify caregiver burden and the widower effect, researchers found for people aged 65 and older, hospitalization of a spouse can not only harm the well-being of his or her partner, but also significantly contribute to that partner's death.

"Our study shows that people are connected in such a fashion that the health of one person is related to the health of another," reports Dr. Nicholas Christakis, professor in the department of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.

He and co-author Sociology Professor Paul Allison of the University of Pennsylvania said the study's findings are striking.

"When a spouse is hospitalized, the partner's risk of death increases significantly and remains elevated for up to two years," Christakis said. "Stress and lack of social support may also adversely affect immunologic measures, so spousal hospitalization may have physiological effects on partners."

The study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.