According to a study conducted at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical College, elderly individuals who suffer from mistreatment are 3.1 times more likely to die than their well-treated counterparts. The researchers, who reported their findings in the Aug. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, conducted a longitudinal study of more than 2,800 Connecticut residents over age 65, a subgroup of which were individuals who had been referred for a protective services for mistreatment or self-neglect. Over the 13-year period of the study, even after adjusting for other factors known to predict death, such as chronic disease, the researchers found that "older adults who were mistreated were more likely to be dead at the end of (the) follow-up period than either their self-neglected counterparts or those cohort members who had no interaction with adult protective services." The researchers concluded, "If we turn our attention to the identification and prevention of elder abuse, we may see improvements in health."
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Hookman, M.D., P.A. Home Page