Department of Science and Education, Nantong First People's Hospital, Nantong, China.
Department of Biobank, Nantong First People's Hospital, Nantong, China.
Front Public Health. 2023 Oct 25;11:1257133. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1257133. eCollection 2023.
Transitioning from marriage to widowhood presents inevitable and significant challenges for many older adults. This study explored the impact of widowhood on a range of mental health outcomes, including pulse pressure and fasting blood glucose levels, among older adults in nursing homes.
This cross-sectional study utilized cluster random sampling to recruit participants, with data analyzed from 388 older Chinese adults. Psychosocial traits were assessed using the Perceived Social Support from Family scale (PSS-Fa) for family support, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7) for anxiety symptoms, and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to control for confounding factors. A multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to explore the relationship between widowhood, mental health outcomes, pulse pressure, and fasting blood glucose levels.
After applying PSM, the sample size was refined to 268 ( = 134 for both married and widowed groups) from the initial 388, excluding 120 unmatched cases. Widowed older adults were found to have notably lower family support ( = -0.81, = 0.002), increased depressive symptoms ( = 1.04, = 0.043), elevated pulse pressure ( = 8.90, < 0.001), and higher fasting blood glucose levels ( = 3.22, = 0.027). These associations exhibited greater beta values compared to pre-matching analysis.
Our findings revealed that widowed participants had reduced family support, an increased risk of depressive symptoms, heightened pulse pressure, and elevated fasting blood glucose in comparison to their married counterparts. Interventions focusing on social support, mental health, and cardiovascular well-being could be advantageous for this at-risk group.
从婚姻过渡到丧偶状态会给许多老年人带来不可避免的重大挑战。本研究探讨了丧偶对养老院中老年人一系列心理健康结果的影响，包括脉压和空腹血糖水平。
这项横断面研究采用聚类随机抽样招募参与者，对 388 名中国老年人进行数据分析。使用家庭感知社会支持量表（PSS-Fa）评估心理社会特征，用于家庭支持；广泛性焦虑症 7 项量表（GAD-7）评估焦虑症状；9 项患者健康问卷（PHQ-9）评估抑郁症状和自杀意念。采用倾向评分匹配（PSM）来控制混杂因素。采用多元线性回归分析探讨丧偶、心理健康结果、脉压和空腹血糖水平之间的关系。
应用 PSM 后，从最初的 388 例中剔除了 120 例不匹配的病例，样本量从 388 例缩小到 268 例（已婚和丧偶组各 134 例）。与已婚老年人相比，丧偶老年人的家庭支持明显较低（ = -0.81， = 0.002），抑郁症状增加（ = 1.04， = 0.043），脉压升高（ = 8.90， < 0.001），空腹血糖水平升高（ = 3.22， = 0.027）。与匹配前分析相比，这些关联的β值更大。
我们的研究结果表明，与已婚参与者相比，丧偶参与者的家庭支持减少，抑郁症状风险增加，脉压升高，空腹血糖水平升高。针对社会支持、心理健康和心血管健康的干预措施可能对这一高危人群有益。
