How do cohabitation and marital status affect mortality risk? Results from a cohort study in Thailand
Objective To examine the relationship between baseline union status (ie, including marriage and cohabitation) and mortality, paying attention to gender differentials, through an 11-year follow-up of a large cohort in Thailand.Design Cohort data from Thai Cohort Study (TCS) were linked official death...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2022-09-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/9/e062811.full |
| _version_ | 1811239043791323136 |
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| author | Matthew Kelly Vasoontara Yiengprugsawan Sam-ang Seubsman Adrian Sleigh Chi Kin Law Jiaying Zhao |
| author_facet | Matthew Kelly Vasoontara Yiengprugsawan Sam-ang Seubsman Adrian Sleigh Chi Kin Law Jiaying Zhao |
| author_sort | Matthew Kelly |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective To examine the relationship between baseline union status (ie, including marriage and cohabitation) and mortality, paying attention to gender differentials, through an 11-year follow-up of a large cohort in Thailand.Design Cohort data from Thai Cohort Study (TCS) were linked official death records over an 11-year follow-up period.Setting Community-based adults in Thailand.Participants 87 151 Thai adults participated in TCS cohort.Method Cox regression models measured longitudinal associations between union status and 11-year mortality.Results From 2005 (baseline) to 2016, persons who cohabited and lived with a partner, married persons but not living with a partner and separated/divorced/widowed people were more likely to die compared with those married and living together with a partner. Those who did not have good family support had a higher death risk than those having good family support.Single or cohabiting women had higher risks of mortality than women who were married and living together with a partner throughout follow-up, while separated/divorced/widowed men had higher risks of mortality than counterpart males.Conclusions Our study reveals the protective effect of marriage and living together on mortality in Thailand, an understudied setting where institutionalisation of cohabitation is low leading to a limited mortality protection. Public policies for moderating mortality should thus be gender nuanced, culturally and institutionally specific. Also, we demonstrate that in settings such as Thailand, where marital status is not always defined in the same way as in western cultures, the need to measure cohabitation in locally relevant terms is important. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:52:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-af623acb2d8445699d454b1a4e7db9ae |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:52:50Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-af623acb2d8445699d454b1a4e7db9ae2022-12-22T03:32:24ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552022-09-0112910.1136/bmjopen-2022-062811How do cohabitation and marital status affect mortality risk? Results from a cohort study in ThailandMatthew Kelly0Vasoontara Yiengprugsawan1Sam-ang Seubsman2Adrian Sleigh3Chi Kin Law4Jiaying Zhao5National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, AustraliaAustralian Research Council Centre of Excellence on Population Ageing Research, Business School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaSukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Bang Phut, ThailandNational Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, AustraliaNHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaSchool of Demography, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, AustraliaObjective To examine the relationship between baseline union status (ie, including marriage and cohabitation) and mortality, paying attention to gender differentials, through an 11-year follow-up of a large cohort in Thailand.Design Cohort data from Thai Cohort Study (TCS) were linked official death records over an 11-year follow-up period.Setting Community-based adults in Thailand.Participants 87 151 Thai adults participated in TCS cohort.Method Cox regression models measured longitudinal associations between union status and 11-year mortality.Results From 2005 (baseline) to 2016, persons who cohabited and lived with a partner, married persons but not living with a partner and separated/divorced/widowed people were more likely to die compared with those married and living together with a partner. Those who did not have good family support had a higher death risk than those having good family support.Single or cohabiting women had higher risks of mortality than women who were married and living together with a partner throughout follow-up, while separated/divorced/widowed men had higher risks of mortality than counterpart males.Conclusions Our study reveals the protective effect of marriage and living together on mortality in Thailand, an understudied setting where institutionalisation of cohabitation is low leading to a limited mortality protection. Public policies for moderating mortality should thus be gender nuanced, culturally and institutionally specific. Also, we demonstrate that in settings such as Thailand, where marital status is not always defined in the same way as in western cultures, the need to measure cohabitation in locally relevant terms is important.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/9/e062811.full |
| spellingShingle | Matthew Kelly Vasoontara Yiengprugsawan Sam-ang Seubsman Adrian Sleigh Chi Kin Law Jiaying Zhao How do cohabitation and marital status affect mortality risk? Results from a cohort study in Thailand BMJ Open |
| title | How do cohabitation and marital status affect mortality risk? Results from a cohort study in Thailand |
| title_full | How do cohabitation and marital status affect mortality risk? Results from a cohort study in Thailand |
| title_fullStr | How do cohabitation and marital status affect mortality risk? Results from a cohort study in Thailand |
| title_full_unstemmed | How do cohabitation and marital status affect mortality risk? Results from a cohort study in Thailand |
| title_short | How do cohabitation and marital status affect mortality risk? Results from a cohort study in Thailand |
| title_sort | how do cohabitation and marital status affect mortality risk results from a cohort study in thailand |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/9/e062811.full |
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