Mortality fluctuations among chronically ill medical geriatric patients as an indicator of stress before and after relocation.

The effects of mass transfer of a sick geriatric population of war veterans were evaluated to determine the resultant change in mortality. A comparison of mortality patterns by months during this interval made over a six-year period, centered around the month of the move, July 1971. Analysis of the mortality fluctuations in the 24-month interval surrounding the move indicated that the course of mortality during this interval was periodic, with four distinguishable phases making up the complete cycle. An attempt was made to link stress-inducing events before, during and after the relocation with the ensuing mortality. It is important to use planned, low-key, stress-prevention measures and continue them for some time after the move, to offset adverse mortality effects from anticipatory anxiety and from the postrelocation release of anxiety-generated stress.