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The Effect of Losing the Twin and Losing the Partner on Mortality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Cecilia Tomassini ,
Alessandro Rosina ,
Francesco C. Billari ,
Axel Skytthe  and
Kaare Christensen
Cecilia Tomassini*
Affiliation:
Age Concern Institute of Gerontology, King's College, London, UK, Dipartimento di Demografia Università La Sapienza, Roma, 00161 Italy. [email protected]
Alessandro Rosina
Affiliation:
Istituto di Studi su Popolazione e Territorio, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy.
Francesco C. Billari
Affiliation:
Research Group on the Demography of Early Adulthood, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, D-18057 Rostock, Germany.
Axel Skytthe
Affiliation:
Institute of Public Health and The Danish Centre for Demographic Research, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5000 Odense, Denmark.
Kaare Christensen
Affiliation:
Institute of Public Health and The Danish Centre for Demographic Research, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5000 Odense, Denmark.
*
*Address for Correspondence: Cecilia Tomassini, Dipartimento di Scienze Demografiche, Università La Sapienza, Via Nomentana 41 Roma, 00161, Italy.

Abstract

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Several studies have explored the impact of marital bereavement on mortality, while increasing emphasis has recently been placed on genetic factors influencing longevity — in this paper, we study the impact of losing the spouse and losing the co-twin, for twins aged 50 to 70. We use data from the Danish Twin Registry and the Population Register of Denmark for the period 1968 through 1999. Firstly, we use survival analysis to study mortality after the death of the spouse or the co-twin. We find that the risk of dying is highest in the first year after the death of the spouse, as well as in the second year after the death of the co-twin. We then use event history analysis techniques to show that there is a strong impact of the event ‘losing the co-twin' even after controlling for age, sex and zygosity and that this effect is significantly higher in the second year of bereavement. The effect is similar for men and women, and it is higher for monozygotic twins. The latter confirms the influence of genetic factors on survival, while the mortality trajectory with a peak in the second year after the death of the co-twin is consistent with the existence of a twin bereavement effect.

Type
Scientific Papers
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , 01 June 2002 , pp. 210 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002