The Aarhus bereavement study (TABstudy)

Abstract The Aarhus Bereavement Study (TABstudy) was established to assess the health and societal impact of bereavement and pathological grief. This is the first register-identified bereavement cohort, linked to a longitudinal survey on grief, with non-bereaved controls. The entire cohort ( N = 68,960), followed from Danish register creation until 2030, includes annual data on socio-economic demographics, income, workforce, government financial assistance, education, incidence of somatic health conditions, incidence of psychiatric health conditions, prescription medication sales, and cause of mortality for bereaved spouses, matched controls, and all their children. The longitudinal self-reported survey ( N = 1,227, 54% response rate) of recent spousal-loss and parental-loss in Aarhus, Denmark, from 2017 to 2018 collected data on lifestyle factors, substance use, personality, significant life changes, well-being, and psychological measures in 8 waves across 5 years. A final 10-year follow-up survey wave is planned for 2027, while register data will cover until 13 years after loss. The cohort at bereavement was on average 51 years old, 56% women, most attained secondary education or higher, and most were employed. Bereaved and control subsamples were similar on nearly all characteristics. Data are stored at Statistics Denmark. Researchers interested in collaboration should contact the Unit for Bereavement Research, Aarhus, Denmark (maja@psy.au.dk, Dr. Maja O’Connor).