Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government
Veterans Benefits and Health Care About VA Find a VA Location

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Medical Comorbidities of Dementia: Links to Caregivers' Emotional Difficulties and Gains.

Polenick CA, Min L, Kales HC. Medical Comorbidities of Dementia: Links to Caregivers' Emotional Difficulties and Gains. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2020 Mar 1; 68(3):609-613.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions


Abstract:

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate how eight major medical comorbidities of dementia (arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, lung disease, osteoporosis, and stroke) are associated with caregivers'' perceptions of emotional caregiving difficulties and caregiving gains (ie, benefits or rewards from the care role). DESIGN: Nationally representative cross-sectional surveys of community-dwelling persons living with dementia (PLWDs) and their co-resident family caregivers in the United States. SETTING: The 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study and National Study of Caregiving. PARTICIPANTS: Total of 356 co-resident family caregivers of community-dwelling PLWDs. MEASUREMENTS: Caregivers'' sociodemographic and health characteristics, caregiving stressors, emotional caregiving difficulties, caregiving gains, and chronic health conditions of PLWDs. RESULTS: Caregivers most commonly cared for a PLWD with arthritis (65.5%), followed by hypertension (64.9%), diabetes (30.1%), stroke (28.8%), osteoporosis (27.1%), heart disease (23.3%), cancer (21.5%), and lung disease (17.2%). Logistic regressions revealed that caregivers were 2.63 and 2.32 times more likely to report higher than median emotional caregiving difficulties when PLWDs had diagnoses of diabetes and osteoporosis, respectively, controlling for caregiver sex, relationship to the PLWD (spouse vs non-spouse), educational attainment, self-rated health, and assistance with activities of daily living and medical care activities. Caregivers were also 2.10 times more likely to report lower than median caregiving gains when PLWDs had a diagnosis of osteoporosis. CONCLUSION: Comorbid health conditions among PLWDs have distinct implications for caregiving outcomes. Clinical care and interventions to improve the well-being of both care dyad members should support caregivers in managing medical comorbidities of dementia. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:609-613, 2020.




Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.