Loss and grief in elderly people: Results from the LIFE-Adult-Study

Abstract

We evaluated 2,865 elderly people to investigate the prevalence of prolonged grief disorder (PGD), examine predictors and mental health correlates. The conditional prevalence of PGD varied between 0.8% and 5.2% (diagnostic algorithm vs. cut-off). PG-13 scores were related to depressive symptoms, sleep disturbances, reduced life satisfaction, and quality of life. Predictors were female gender, less time since death, more losses, having lost a child, partner, or sibling, and less social support. PGD is associated with adverse mental health consequences. Practitioners should pay special attention to elderly women who lost a close loved one and lack social support.

Acknowledgments

We thank all members of the LIFE study center for conducting the LIFE-Adult-Study as well as all participants for their good collaboration.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by LIFE—Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig. LIFE is funded by a grant from the European Union, by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by a grant from the Free State of Saxony within the framework of the excellence initiative. The funders were not involved in the design of the study, in collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or in writing the manuscript.