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The loss of a spouse/partner is a major stressor, undermining one's mental health, especially in mid-life and old age. Social ties are key moderators of the impact of bereavement, serving to enhance psychological resilience and facilitating social engagement and access to resources. Our aim was to explore the association between depression levels and the interaction between the composition of, and level of satisfaction with, social networks among women who have lost their husband. The study was undertaken from a cross-national perspective, examining women throughout Europe. We used data from the SHARE Survey (sixth wave; N  = 6,820). Using linear regression models, we find negative evaluations of social relations influenced the mental health of European widows, mostly when relatives exclusively composed their social network. The perceived quality of that network had more impact on the mental health of older widows in Northern and Western European countries than in their Southern and Eastern counterparts.

Background: The majority of empirical studies focus on a single Social Determinant of Health (SDH) when analysing health inequalities. We go beyond this by exploring how the combination of education (micro level) and household arrangements (mezzo level) is associated with self-perceived health., Methods: Our data source is the 2014 cross-sectional data from the European Survey of Living Conditions (EU-SILC). We calculate the predicted probabilities of poor self-perceived health for the middle-aged European population (30-59 years) as a function of the combination of the two SDHs. This is done separately for five European country groups (dual-earner; liberal; general family support; familistic; and post-socialist transition) and gender., Results: We observe a double health gradient in all the country groups: first, there is a common health gradient by education (the higher the education, the lower the probability of poor health); second, household arrangements define a health gradient within each educational level according to whether or not the individual lives with a partner (living with a partner is associated with a lower probability of poor health). We observe some specificity in this general pattern. Familistic and post-socialist transition countries display large differences in the predicted probabilities according to education and household arrangements when compared with the other three country groups. Familistic and post-socialist transition countries also show the largest gender differences., Conclusions: Health differences in European populations seem to be defined, first, by education and, second, by living or not living with a partner. Additionally, different social contexts (gender inequalities, educational profile, etc.) in European countries change the influences on health of both the SDHs for both women and men.

Sudden cardiac death is an unresolved problem which causes significant mortality and morbidity in both the community and in-hospital setting. Cardiac arrest is often caused by ventricular tachyarrhythmias which may be mostly interrupted by cardioversion or defibrillation. The single most critical factor for survival is the response time. Over the last 30 years, there have been virtually no procedural changes in the way hospitals address in-hospital resuscitation. A unique device has been developed that eliminates human intervention and assures defibrillation therapy is administered in seconds. This is accomplished with a fully automatic, external bedside monitor defibrillator designed to be prophylactically attached to hospitalized patients at risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmia. The safety and efficacy of the device has been demonstrated in multicenter US and European trials. Thus, this device allows a new scenario which may increase survival and enables meaningful redistribution of health resources.