Overview

• A Danish cohort of 1,735 bereaved adults was followed from 2012 to 2022 to map five distinct grief trajectories over three years
• Six percent of participants experienced persistently high levels of grief and faced an 88% greater hazard of death within ten years compared with those on a low-grief trajectory
• Individuals with prolonged intense grief had 186% higher odds of receiving talk therapy, 463% higher odds of antidepressant prescriptions, and 160% higher odds of sedatives more than three years after loss
• Researchers recommend that GPs identify patients with prior depression or other severe mental health conditions to offer tailored bereavement follow-up
• The study highlights a need to uncover the physiological pathways linking prolonged grief symptoms to premature mortality