TY - JOUR
T1 - Spousal Caregiving Is Associated with an Increased Risk of Frailty
T2 - A Case-Control Study
AU - Potier, F
AU - Degryse, J-M
AU - Aubouy, G
AU - Henrard, S
AU - Bihin, B
AU - Debacq-Chainiaux, Florence
AU - MARTENS, Henri J.
AU - de SAINT HUBERT, Marie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Serdi and Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2018/7
Y1 - 2018/7
N2 - BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that providing care for a disabled elderly person may have implications for the caregiver's own health (decreased immunity, hypertension, and depression).OBJECTIVE: Explore if older spousal caregivers are at greater risks of frailty compared to older people without a load of care.DESIGN: Case-control study.SETTING: Participants were assessed at home in Wallonia, Belgium.PARTICIPANTS: Cases: community-dwelling spousal caregivers of older patients, recruited mainly by the geriatric outpatient clinic.CONTROLS: people living at home with an independent spouse at the functional and cognitive level matched for age, gender and comorbidities.MEASUREMENTS: Mini nutritional assessment-short form (MNA-SF), short physical performance battery (SPPB), frailty phenotype (Fried), geriatric depression scale (GDS-15), clock drawing test, sleep quality, and medications. The multivariable analysis used a conditional logistic regression.RESULTS: Among 79 caregivers, 42 were women; mean age and Charlson comorbidity index were 79.4±5.3 and 4.0±1.2, respectively. Among care-receivers (mean age 81.4±5.2), 82% had cognitive impairment. Caregiving was associated with a risk of frailty (Odd Ratio (OR) 6.66; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.20-20.16), the consumption of antidepressants (OR 4.74; 95% CI 1.32 -17.01), shorter nights of sleep (OR 3.53; 95% CI 1.37-9.13) and more difficulties maintaining a social network (OR 5.25; 95% CI 1.68-16.40).CONCLUSIONS: Spousal caregivers were at an increased risk of being frail, having shorter nights of sleep, taking antidepressants and having difficulties maintaining their social network, compared to non-caregiver controls. Older spousal caregivers deserve the full attention of professionals to prevent functional decline and anticipate a care breakdown.
AB - BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that providing care for a disabled elderly person may have implications for the caregiver's own health (decreased immunity, hypertension, and depression).OBJECTIVE: Explore if older spousal caregivers are at greater risks of frailty compared to older people without a load of care.DESIGN: Case-control study.SETTING: Participants were assessed at home in Wallonia, Belgium.PARTICIPANTS: Cases: community-dwelling spousal caregivers of older patients, recruited mainly by the geriatric outpatient clinic.CONTROLS: people living at home with an independent spouse at the functional and cognitive level matched for age, gender and comorbidities.MEASUREMENTS: Mini nutritional assessment-short form (MNA-SF), short physical performance battery (SPPB), frailty phenotype (Fried), geriatric depression scale (GDS-15), clock drawing test, sleep quality, and medications. The multivariable analysis used a conditional logistic regression.RESULTS: Among 79 caregivers, 42 were women; mean age and Charlson comorbidity index were 79.4±5.3 and 4.0±1.2, respectively. Among care-receivers (mean age 81.4±5.2), 82% had cognitive impairment. Caregiving was associated with a risk of frailty (Odd Ratio (OR) 6.66; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.20-20.16), the consumption of antidepressants (OR 4.74; 95% CI 1.32 -17.01), shorter nights of sleep (OR 3.53; 95% CI 1.37-9.13) and more difficulties maintaining a social network (OR 5.25; 95% CI 1.68-16.40).CONCLUSIONS: Spousal caregivers were at an increased risk of being frail, having shorter nights of sleep, taking antidepressants and having difficulties maintaining their social network, compared to non-caregiver controls. Older spousal caregivers deserve the full attention of professionals to prevent functional decline and anticipate a care breakdown.
KW - Caregiving
KW - depression
KW - frailty
KW - nutrition
KW - Caregivers/statistics & numerical data
KW - Humans
KW - Risk Factors
KW - Male
KW - Case-Control Studies
KW - Belgium/epidemiology
KW - Aged, 80 and over
KW - Female
KW - Aged
KW - Frailty/epidemiology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057337611&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.14283/jfa.2018.11
DO - 10.14283/jfa.2018.11
M3 - Article
C2 - 30095147
SN - 2260-1341
VL - 7
SP - 170
EP - 175
JO - The Journal of frailty & aging
JF - The Journal of frailty & aging
IS - 3
ER -