For a lot of older people, the world crumbles when their spouse dies. The widows or widowers may spend years in mourning, trying to return to terms with the loss.

Nonetheless, there have been several instances where a pair die inside only a 12 months of one another. This phenomenon that has been dubbed the “widowhood effect.” While the phenomenon is common with men above the age of 80, a recent study raised some eyebrows as men of their 60s–the younger group studied–were also found to have been majorly impacted by the condition.

Researchers conducted a study aiming to trace the general number of individuals affected by widowhood woes, and, to their great surprise, found men of their 60s dying in greater numbers as a result of the heartbreak stemming from a spouse’s death. Researchers in Denmark, the U.K., and Singapore drew on data from no less than a million Danish residents aged 65 and older, and located that within the 12 months after losing a spouse, men were 70% more more likely to die.

The findings of the study, published in PLOS One, indicated women showed a comparatively lower trend of dying as a result of the lack of a spouse. In line with the study, 27% of girls were more more likely to die.

How widowhood affects an individual

Couples who shared close marital bonds are more likely to die briefly succession. Moreover, being left to shoulder every household responsibility on their very own also forced them into depression, which ultimately led to death, based on Thoroughly Mind.

The most recent study also highlighted that the death of a spouse led to varied mental, physical, and behavioral complications in a person, which in turn heightened hospitalization rates and mortality hazards.

“Another aspects comparable to socioeconomic status of people, the quantity of (in)formal care, in addition to the pre-existing medical condition are aspects that may also influence the widowhood effect,” the study noted.

Dawn Carr, co-director of the Aging Research on Contexts, Health, and Inequalities program at Florida State University told Time that gender and age were two of essentially the most influential risk aspects for the widowhood effect. Carr wasn’t involved within the study, but had prior research experience in geriatric health.

“It’s a surprising finding to see those sorts of increased risks that you just just really wouldn’t expect at such a young age,” says Carr.