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 In the two years after their surgery, patients who were divorced,
separated or widowed were about 40 percent more likely than married
people to die or need help with common activities, researchers
reported in JAMA Surgery.
"I think people recognize that social determinants of health are
very important, but in terms of surgery very little has been done on
how these related to functional outcomes," said lead author Dr. Mark
Neuman, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
He and his colleague Dr. Rachel Werner write that it may be useful
to know whether single people are more or less likely to need
additional help dressing, eating or bathing after heart surgery.
For the new research, they used data from biennial interviews with
almost 30,000 people age 50 years or older. The data were collected
from 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 interviews.
The participants were asked their marital status, as well as how
much help they need getting in and out of bed, getting dressed,
moving around, eating, bathing and going to the bathroom.
"These are the basic things that often are needed to care for
yourself and live independently," Neuman told Reuters Health.
Overall, the new study included data from 1,576 people who ended up
having heart surgery. About 65 percent were married, about 12
percent were divorced or separated, 21 percent were widowed and 2
percent were never married.
About 3 percent of participants died between their heart surgery and
the next biennial interview. Another 21 percent survived, but needed
more help in their everyday lives.
Overall, those who were single were more likely than married people
to die or need additional help in the two years following their
surgery, researchers found. The exception was the small number of
never-married patients, whose results were about the same as the
marrieds.
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The research can't say why married people are less likely to die or
need additional help shortly after heart surgery, Neuman said.
"It could be that people who are married are healthier than people
who are not married, but that’s just one of several possible
explanations," he said.
The findings tell people who deliver healthcare to take a look at
patients from a holistic perspective and consider the households and
communities patients live in and ways to improve outcomes, Neuman
said.
"As doctors, we always want to strive to do that and as a healthcare
system I think it would be wonderful if that was a goal for the care
we provide," he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1NCGH7Y JAMA Surgery, online October 29, 2015.
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