Are older men more vulnerable to depression than women after losing their spouse? Evidence from three German old-age cohorts (AgeDifferent.de platform)

Background: Old age is accompanied by a higher risk of losing a spouse. This study aims to longitudinally investigate the effect of widowhood on depression severity with a special focus on sex differences. We examine depression before and after widowhood in men and women separately to investigate which sex is at greater risk after losing a spouse. Methods: Data came from the AgeDifferent.de platform, which includes three pooled old age cohort studies. In order to examine factors associated with depression over time, we applied a linear hybrid mixed-effects regression model for the overall sample and analysed additional separate models for men and women. Results: Of 2470 respondents (mean age at baseline 79.2 (SD 3.64) years), 1256 were men. In total, 209 men and 332 women experienced spousal bereavement after baseline. In general, both sexes showed higher depression severity after widowhood. However, there were significant sex differences. Widowed men were more prone to subsequent depression than widowed women. In terms of depression severity, widowed men differed significantly compared to non-widowed men; however, this was not the case for women. Limitation: We harmonized three cohort studies which used different measurement scales for depression and different recruitment procedures. Conclusion: Our study showed that although both genders suffer from losing a spouse, men are more prone to subsequently develop depressive symptoms. Raising the awareness among practitioners for sex-specific differences as well as developing tailored interventions for both widowed men and women should be considered.