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Mortality Fluctuations among Chronically Ill Medical Geriatric Patients as an Indicator of Stress before and after Relocation *
Author(s) -
ZWEIG J. P.,
CSANK J. Z.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1976.tb03302.x
Subject(s) - relocation , medicine , anxiety , demography , population , gerontology , psychiatry , environmental health , sociology , computer science , programming language
The effects of mass transfer of a sick geriatric population of war veterans were evaluated to determine the resultant change in mortality. A comparison of mortality patterns by months was made over a six‐year period, centered around the month of the move, July 1971. Analysis of the mortality fluctuations in the 24‐month interval surrounding the move indicated that the course of mortality during this interval was periodic, with four distinguishable phases making up the complete cycle. An attempt was made to link stress‐inducing events before, during and after the relocation with the ensuing mortality. It is important to use planned, low‐key, stress‐prevention measures and continue them for some time after the move, to offset adverse mortality effects from anticipatory anxiety and from the postrelocation release of anxiety‐generated stress.