Sex Differences in Medication and Primary Healthcare Use before and after Spousal Bereavement at Older Ages in Denmark: Nationwide Register Study of over 6000 Bereavements.

dc.contributor.author

Oksuzyan, Anna

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Jacobsen, Rune

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Glaser, Karen

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Tomassini, Cecilia

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Vaupel, James W

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Christensen, Kaare

dc.coverage.spatial

United States

dc.date.accessioned

2017-06-02T19:17:04Z

dc.date.available

2017-06-02T19:17:04Z

dc.date.issued

2011

dc.description.abstract

Background. The study aimed to examine sex differences in healthcare use before and after widowhood to investigate whether reduced healthcare use among widowers compared with widows may partially explain excess mortality and more adverse health outcomes among men than women after spousal loss. Methods. All individuals alive and aged at least 60 years in 1996 and who became widowed in the period from 1996 to 2003 were selected from the 5% sample of the total Danish population and all Danish twins. The healthcare use was assessed as the average daily all-cause and major system-specific medication use and the average annual number of visits to general physicians (GPs). Results. The average daily use of all-cause and major system-specific medications, as well as the number of GP visits increased over the period from 1 year before and up to 5 years after a spouse's death, but there were no sex-specific patterns in the trajectories of medication use and number of GP visits after conjugal loss. Conclusion. We found little support for the hypothesis that reduced healthcare use contributes to the explanation of more adverse health outcomes after conjugal loss in men compared with women in Denmark.

dc.identifier

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21860795

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2090-2212

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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14781

dc.language

eng

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Hindawi Limited

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J Aging Res

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10.4061/2011/678289

dc.title

Sex Differences in Medication and Primary Healthcare Use before and after Spousal Bereavement at Older Ages in Denmark: Nationwide Register Study of over 6000 Bereavements.

dc.type

Journal article

pubs.author-url

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21860795

pubs.begin-page

678289

pubs.organisational-group

Center for Population Health & Aging

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Duke

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Duke Population Research Institute

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Sanford School of Public Policy

pubs.publication-status

Published

pubs.volume

2011

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