Caregiving, mortality, and mobility decline

Citation Fredman, L., Cauley, J.A., Satterfield, S., Simonsick, E., Spencer, S.M., Ayomayon, H., N., & Harris, T.B. (2008). Caregiving, mortality, and mobility decline. Archives of Internal Medicine, 168(19), 2154-2161.

Hypothesis Overall, caregiver and noncaregivers will not differ in rates of all-cause mortality or incident mobility limitations. However, when adjusting for total amount of physical activity, caregivers will have higher rates of these health outcomes than noncaregivers.

Participants The participants of this study were N =3075 healthy adults from the Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study.

Outcome / Dependent Variables Outcome variables for this study were "all-cause mortality" and "incident mobility limitation."

Procedure After a baseline was established, participants were measured annually with clinical examinations or home based interviews. Short telephone interviews were performed at 6 months between each annual interview.

Outcomes Mortality and mobility limitation rates were 1.5 times higher in white caregivers but not for black female caregivers vs noncaregivers. Authors concluded that older white caregivers have poorer health outcomes than black female caregivers.

Author Fredman, L., Cauley, J.A., Satterfield, S., Simonsick, E., Spencer, S.M., Ayomayon, H., N., & Harris, T.B.