Evictions and short-term all-cause mortality: a 3-year follow-up study of a middle-aged Swedish population

OBJECTIVES: This study sets out to explore whether being forcibly removed from one’s home is related to all-cause mortality. METHODS: With the help of unique register data covering all middle-aged persons registered at the Swedish Enforcement Authority with a case closed by an eviction during the period 2009–2011 (n = 2092), evictees’ deaths from any cause that occurred within 3 years of the date of the eviction are compared with the all-cause mortality of a random sample of the Swedish population (n = 426,117). The analysis is based on penalized maximum likelihood logistic regressions. RESULTS: Those who had been evicted from their homes were found to be approximately one and a half times more likely to die from any cause than those who had not been exposed to this experience (OR = 1.59), controlling for several demographic, socio-economic and health conditions prior to the date of the eviction. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide support for the notion that the experience of losing one’s dwelling place should be treated as a major life event in its own right, just like other well-established social stressors.