ArticleInnovation in aging2025
Suicide risk among spouses of patients with dementia: a population-based cohort study.
Article in Innovation in aging, 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
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Caregiver burden among spouse caregivers is associated with mental health burdens, including suicide. However, longitudinal studies on suicide risk among spouses of dementia patients are limited. This study aimed to investigate suicide risk among spouses of patients with dementia and to examine how sociodemographic factors and healthcare service utilization influence this risk. Research Design and Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study using the 2008-2021 National Health Insurance Research Database (28,696 dementia patient-spouse dyads and matched non-dementia patient-spouse dyads). Dementia and suicide behaviors were identified using diagnostic codes from the national registry. Incident rates of suicide among patients' spouses were calculated following the diagnosis of dementia. A Cox proportional hazards model assessed suicide risk among spouses of dementia patients relative to spouses of non-dementia patients, stratified by sociodemographic characteristics. We also examined the association between healthcare service utilization by patients with dementia and suicide behavior among their spouses. Results: Overall suicide risk was similar between spouses of dementia patients and those of non-dementia patients. However, among those in the lowest insurance premium group, spouses of patients with dementia had a 3.2-fold higher (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.3-8.0) risk of suicide compared to spouses of patients without dementia. The incidence rate ratio of suicide decreased following the diagnosis of dementia but rebounded 10 years after diagnosis. Healthcare utilization was higher among patients with dementia compared to those without dementia, and patient hospitalization was associated with a 2.6-fold increase (95% CI: 1.3-5.3) in suicide risk among their spouses. Discussion and Implications: The increased suicide risk among spouses of patients with dementia in the later stages of the disease may be related to the financial burden caused by healthcare service utilization. Affordable long-term care services for spouses of patients with dementia should be developed.
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.