NEW YORK -- Dec. 15, 1999 -- The stress of caring for a disabled spouse increases an elderly person's risk of dying, according to University of Pittsburgh researchers.
Caregivers "need to pay attention to what they're doing, and how care demands affect their own health," researcher Dr. Richard Schulz told Reuters Health. "They have to make sure that they are taking care of themselves as well, that they're getting enough sleep, and seeing their own physicians on a regular basis. In addition, other family members must be considered an option to help with the caregiving."
"Under extreme circumstances, it may be appropriate to relieve a vulnerable older person from caregiving responsibilities permanently," Schulz and colleague Dr. Scott R. Beach, of the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, write in the December 15th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
The researchers measured the death rate among 392 people who cared for spouses whose physical problems or confusion made them unable to perform at least one typical daily activity. They compared the rate with that seen in 427 people of the same age and sex who were not caregivers. Both groups were between 66 and 96 years old.
Over 4 years, 9.4 percent of those who were not caregivers died, according to the report. In contrast, 17.3 percent of the spouses who were providing care and reporting strain died. The risk was highest for caregiving spouses who reported strain and also had an illness -- 33 percent of this group died during the study.
From their findings, the study authors calculate that overall, "caregivers who provide support to their spouse and report caregiving strain are 63 percent more likely to die within 4 years than noncaregivers."
Schulz and Beach conclude that "caregiving is an independent risk factor for mortality" -- that is, even when other risk factors such as age, health, and stressful life events are taken into account, taking care of an elderly spouse increases the caregiver's risk of death.
"While caregiving can be stressful for any family member, spouses have a unique disadvantage," Drs. Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser and Ronald Glaser write in an accompanying editorial. They note that because "marriage is the central relationship for the majority of adults ... when the spouse is ill, the prime source of support can become a major generator of stress, while simultaneously limiting the partner's ability to seek support in other relationships."
"Politically, (this study) is likely to fuel debate about the financing of long-term care, particularly when considering that caregiving will become an increasingly prominent problem as the baby boom generation ages," they note.
