NOT ONLY does marriage protect people against suicide, it also protects against accidental death due to road traffic accidents, falls and poisonings, a new Irish survey has revealed.
Deputy director of the National Suicide Research Foundation, Dr Paul Corcoran, points out that every year in Ireland 10,000 people die leaving a partner behind.
“It should be feasible for our public health system, possibly through community nurses, to follow up on people whose spouse has recently died in light of these findings,” he said.
“This group is at increased risk of death by natural causes as studies have shown, as well as suicide and accidental death.”
His study, The Impact of Widowhood on Irish Mortality due to Suicide and Accidents, which was published in the European Journal of Public Health, looked at more than 10,000 deaths over the 20-year period from 1986-2005.
Dr Corcoran said international studies had associated widowhood with an increased risk of suicide, but no similar study had been carried out in Ireland.
“My study found that widowhood was associated with a doubling of the suicide rate in Irish men, with that rate higher in the 35-54 and 55-75 age groups and slightly lower in the over- 75s. The rates were lower in women and a novel finding of this survey was that women over the age of 75 had a lower suicide rate than married women of the same age.”
The survey revealed that widowed men aged 54-75 had a significantly increased risk of dying in a motor vehicle accident than the non-widowed and less so in women.
Widows over the age of 55, both men and women, were found to be at double the risk of death as a result of an accidental fall, one of the main causes of fatalities among older people outside health-related issues.
“These findings show how widowhood affects people in so many ways. You could understand the risk of suicide increasing if somebody loses a lifelong partner and becomes depressed, but if a widow living alone has an accidental fall, they may not get help quickly enough or be as well taken care of afterwards,” Dr Corcoran said.
Widowed people aged 35-54 had at least a threefold increased risk of dying by accidental poisoning compared with those who were not widowed, the study showed.
Dr Corcoran explained that accidental poisoning includes alcohol and drug poisoning, and widowhood may be associated with an increase in alcohol consumption in those who already have a drink problem.
A second study by Dr Corcoran, Suicide and Marital Status in Northern Ireland, found that marriage protects both sexes against suicide, although men more so than women. Divorced young men, in particular, are at a high risk of suicide.
“The results are consistent with other studies worldwide which have shown that marriage protects against suicide for men and women,” he said.
“My study which looked at more than 1,400 suicide deaths in the North over a 10-year period found at least twice the rate of suicide in those over 55 who were widowed, divorced or never married.”
Dr Corcoran has recommended that support services be made routinely available to people going through the divorce process, and to their children who may also be at an increased risk of suicidal behaviour.
