Tombstone cost and longevity: The San Pedro Cemetery Museum in Medellín in Colombia

Studies in the West suggest that tombstone cost is associated with longevity. The objective of this observational study was to investigate the association between tombstone cost and longevity in a large cemetery in Latin America. Age at death was obtained from 2,273 consecutive death certificates he...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2024-01, Vol.19 (1), p.e0293746-e0293746
Main Authors: O'Donovan, Gary, Martínez, Astrid, Flórez, Santiago, Cadavid Castrillón, Ana Isabel, Zapata, Uriel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Analysis
Cemeteries
Colombia
Death
Demographic aspects
Economic aspects
Humans
Latin America
Life expectancy
Longevity
Low cost
Mortality
Museums
Observational studies
Prices and rates
Regional disparities
Sepulchral monuments
Social aspects
Socioeconomic factors
Tombs
Tombstones
Variance analysis
Young adults
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Studies in the West suggest that tombstone cost is associated with longevity. The objective of this observational study was to investigate the association between tombstone cost and longevity in a large cemetery in Latin America. Age at death was obtained from 2,273 consecutive death certificates held at the San Pedro Cemetery Museum in Medellín in Colombia. Subjects died in 2022, 2021, or 2020. Tombs are arranged in galleries in the cemetery and tombstone cost was based on the material from which the tombstone was made, its position in the gallery, and its ornamentation. Analysis of variance was used and the assumption of equal variance was not violated. Approximately 77% of tombstones were of low cost, 21% of medium cost, and 2% of high cost. Data from 1,751 subjects were used to investigate differences in longevity according to tombstone cost while adjusting for sex, civil status, violent death, and year of death. Longevity was similar in the low-cost group and medium-cost group: 64.3 years (63.2, 65.3) versus 63.3 years (61.3, 65.3) [estimated mean (95% confidence interval)]. Longevity was lower in the high-cost group: 47.0 years (40.1, 53.9). The inverse association between tombstone cost and longevity would suggest that people in Medellín are inclined to spend more on tombstones when commemorating the tragic death of a young person.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0293746