Grief leaves the body at risk of infection The impact becomes more profound in older adults as, with age, they lose the ability to produce a hormone that can counteract this dampening affect, meaning even previously healthy elderly people can fall victim to disease following a bereavement. Professor Janet Lord, who led the research, said: "There are a lot of anecdotes about couples who were married for 40 years when one of them passes away and then the other dies a few days later. It seems there is a biological basis for this. Rather than dying of a broken heart, however, they are dying of a broken immune system. They usually get infections. The researchers studied the immune systems and hormone levels of 48 healthy adults aged 65 and over. Half of the group had suffered a major bereavement in the past 12 months. They found that the antibacterial action of neutrophils from grieving participants were significantly reduced compared to those who had not suffered a bereavement. They also had raised levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol is known to suppress the activity of neutrophils, making them less active. Most young healthy people produce a second hormone called DHEA, which Professor Lord and her colleagues found can counteract this affect, allowing their immune system to function normally. With age, however, adults lose the ability to produce this second hormone and so they become more vulnerable to disease at moments of stress. The researchers have also found that suffering a hip fracture can also lead to this hormone imbalance that suppresses the immune system. It helps to explain why around 25% of people over the age of 80 who suffer a hip fracture subsequently die within one year. Among patients who had previously been healthy, Professor Lord found that one in ten died within the year. Those suffering from depression or heightened levels of stress as a result of their injury had reduced immune responses and were most at risk of dying. Professor Lord said: "Our results in healthy adults who have suffered bereavement, the stress response and the effect on the immune system is as profound as we saw in those who had suffered a hip fracture. We think that what is going on is that even in previously healthy people are becoming very depressed and this has a powerful effect on the immune system. A 70 year old has around 10 to 20 per cent of the DHEA of a 30 year old, so it may be why older people are less able to cope with bereavement.