ArticlePalliative medicine2025
Unpaid care, time taken off work and healthcare costs before and after partner bereavement among same-gender and different-gender partners: A national population-based study.
Article in Palliative medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecent research has demonstrated higher levels of psychological distress for bereaved same-gender partners compared to different-gender partners. Economic outcomes have not yet been examined.
aimTo examine whether there are differences between same- and different-gender civil partners or spouses (hereafter 'partners') in the amount of unpaid care provided in the 3 months pre-bereavement, and time taken off work and formal healthcare used in the 3 months pre- or post-bereavement.
designA population-based cross-sectional survey of bereaved partners from England/Wales was conducted including three economic outcomes of interest: unpaid care, time taken off work, and formal healthcare used. We estimated formal healthcare costs using reference costs. We balanced groups on sociodemographic characteristics using propensity score weights and estimated average marginal difference in outcomes between groups using multivariable regressions. SETTING/
participantsThere were 542 complete cases for primary analysis (220 same-gender partners, 322 different-gender partners).
resultsSame- and different-gender partners provided very high levels of unpaid care pre-bereavement (mean 122 h/week). Of those in paid employment, 85% missed some work pre- and post-bereavement. Same-gender partners had higher formal healthcare costs post-bereavement (+£79, 95% CI: +2 to +156). There were no other significant differences between groups.
conclusionThe economic burdens of bereavement are substantial. Same-gender partners were associated with more formal healthcare use than different-gender partners post-bereavement, possibly connected to higher levels of psychological distress. Future research should consider longer-term impacts of partner bereavement on health outcomes, explore whether care services are experienced as inclusive, and target ethnically diverse and gender diverse communities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.