We analyse the future household status of elderly men and women in Norway. An important finding is that persons aged 80? are less likely to live alone in the future, and more often with a partner. The level of mortality, the mortality sex gap, union dissolution at young and intermediate ages, and entry into and exit from institutions for the elderly are possible determinants for this new trend. We use the macro simulation program LIPRO to simulate the household dynamics in Norway to 2032, and investigate the demographic reasons for the increased likelihood of living with a partner among Norwegian elderly. Mortality plays an important role, but part of the trend is already embodied in the household structure of the current population.
Background
The drug-related death of a child has been linked to higher prevalence of complicated grief and mental health problems than bereavement by other causes of death. Whether this leads to an increased risk of mortality following the loss has not yet been examined.
Methods
Employing register data covering the years 1986–2015 and encompassing the entire Norwegian population, parents with at least one child aged 15 or older were analyzed using Cox regression. Drug-death bereaved parents were compared with both non-bereaved parents and parents bereaved by other causes of death.
Results
Parents bereaved by a drug-related death generally had a higher natural cause mortality throughout the follow-up. Drug-death bereaved parents had a particularly high external cause mortality in the first 2 years subsequent to bereavement when compared with non-bereaved parents (mothers: hazard ratio 4.82, 95% CI = 3.11–7.47; fathers: hazard ratio 2.50, 95% CI = 1.57–3.97). There was also an elevated, but significantly lower mortality risk from external causes 2 to 10 years subsequent to bereavement. This indicates that the associations observed are not solely due to selection.
Conclusions
Parents bereaved by the drug-related death of a child had a higher mortality than both non-bereaved parents and parents bereaved by other causes of death. Drug-death bereaved parents had particularly high external cause mortality. Our results indicate that losing a child to a drug-related death is associated with adverse health outcomes and that these might be more severe than bereavement due to other causes of death.
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