True love until the end
Scientists, who have found a link between grief and the risk of infection, say it may explain why some widows and widowers can die days or even hours after their spouse. According to researchers, the emotional stress of losing a loved one can lead to parts of the immune system being suppressed.
Scientists, who have found a link between grief and the risk of infection, say it may explain why some widows and widowers can die days or even hours after their spouse.
According to researchers, the emotional stress of losing a loved one can lead to parts of the immune system being suppressed, leaving grieving relatives, especially the elderly, vulnerable to infections.
“There are a lot of anecdotes about couples who were married for 40 years when one of them passes away and then the other dies a few days later,” Professor Janet Lord, who led the research, told Britain’s Sunday Telegraph.
According to Professor Lord, there is reportedly a “biological basis” for this scenario.
“Rather than dying of a broken heart, however, they are dying of a broken immune system. They usually get infections,” she claims.
Immunologists at the University of Birmingham find emotional stress and depression can interfere with the function of a type of white blood cell known as neutrophils, which is responsible for fighting bacterial infections such as pneumonia.
According to researchers, as people age, they lose the ability to produce DHEA, which is a hormone that can counteract this dampening effect, so even previously healthy elderly people can become ill after bereavement.
Immunologists also say a hip fracture can lead to this hormone imbalance that suppresses the immune system, and may help explain why about one in four people aged over 80 years, who suffer a hip fracture, die within a year.
Do you know of any elderly couples who have passed days or weeks after each other? Share your thoughts on this latest research by commenting in the box below.
