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Life Guide U.S. essentials
English

Someone who provides long-term care for a disabled person at home needs someone watching over their own health

  • High value
  • Evidence A
  • Buys life
  • Disputed
  • Free
  • Takes minutes
  • Some willpower

In plain words

A caregiver breaking down is not being overdramatic. A study in the U.S. followed more than 800 older adults for four years. Among those who cared for a disabled spouse and also reported that they were mentally strained, the risk of death was about 60% higher than for people who did not give care. Caregivers who did not feel strained did not show this rise. So what to watch is not the caregiving itself but the long-term strain.

Cost

Free. Hand off part of the caregiving work, and go for one checkup yourself.

What you get

The study was a prospective population cohort, conducted from 1993 to 1998 in four U.S. communities with an average follow-up of 4.5 years. It included 392 caregivers and 427 non-caregivers, aged 66 to 96, all living with a spouse. Within four years, 103 people (12.6%) died. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, existing disease and subclinical cardiovascular disease, people who gave care and reported mental or emotional strain had a 63% higher risk of death than non-caregiving controls (RR 1.63, 95% CI 1.00–2.65, a range of plausible values). Caregivers who did not report strain (RR 1.08, 95% CI 0.61–1.90) and people whose spouse was disabled but who did not give care (RR 1.37, 95% CI 0.73–2.58) both had no raised mortality after adjustment.

Notes

Disputed: the lower end of this study's range of plausible values sits right on 1.00, so the possibility of “no difference” is not fully ruled out. The people studied were older Americans living with a spouse, and the person cared for was a disabled older spouse, so applying it to people who care for a young disabled family member is extending it beyond what it covers. What it does show is the direction: the people who feel the strain carry the higher risk. Hand off as much caregiving as you can; ask the local Disabled Persons' Federation (残联) and the civil affairs department (民政) about care placement and day-care services. Don't stop your own chronic-disease medicine; see §16.1 (take medicine as prescribed to the end). The beneficiary of this item is you.

Evidence grade
A : Specific numbers from meta-analyses, large cohorts or randomized trials; for law and policy, the statute or official text.
Sources
  1. Schulz R, Beach SR (1999). Caregiving as a risk factor for mortality: the Caregiver Health Effects Study. JAMA, 282(23):2215-2219. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.282.23.2215

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 33, tip 4. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer