Since joining UGA as the director of the Institute of Gerontology, Toni Miles has decided to steer the institute to looking at how geriatric patients affect the broader society and what can be done to improve that aspect of public health.
Led by Toni P. Miles, professor of epidemiology and director of the Institute of Gerontology in the College of Public Health, the research looked at how survivors responded to spouse, parent, sibling or child loss.
A report of any loss resulted in a 20 to 30 percent increased risk of health care use, she said. The risk for baby boomers six or more years past the loss was even greater. Compared to respondents without spousal or parental death, these grievers had a 75 to 95 percent increased risk of health care use.
The research was published in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and is part of a larger Mortality Project being conducted by the university. Through the Mortality Project, UGA researchers study how loss affects a survivor’s health. Along with research on loss and health care use, the Mortality Project has helped pastors improve their practices for grieving families with training available from the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, http://www.acpe.edu.
Using data from the Health and Retirement Survey, Miles’s current study focuses on a cohort of baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, who had likely experienced the death of a family member.
Some grievers also depended on the family member for health insurance and find themselves without the same coverage after the person dies. In those cases, survivors have a greater chance of hospitalization since they often delay medical treatment.
The research also identified strategies to help survivors. Engaging in physical activity can help lower a person’s risk of hospitalization by as much as 50 percent.
“Walking at an easy pace can help newly grieving persons diminish their risk for illness after loss,” Miles notes.
The study co-authors include Cherie Simpson of the University of Texas and Joseph C. Allegra, Amara Ezeamama, Kerstin Gerst-Emerson and Jennifer Elkins of UGA.
The journal article is available online at http://ajh.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/09/24/1049909114552125.full.pdf+html.