Key result
Long-term caregiving stress is linked to increased coronary heart disease risk, especially in older women.
Why the study?
The increasing proportion of older adults and decreasing number of young family caregivers may lead middle-aged and older women to assume long-term caregiving duties, with potential impacts on coronary heart disease risk.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May prompt caregiver stress screening in middle-aged women; hypothesis-generating for intervention trials.
Aging Populations with Less Young Family CaregiversOlder adults occupy a significant proportion of developed countries' populations, at the same time that birth rates are decreasing.For example, the US has 15.41% and Japan 27.5% proportion of older adults 65 or older in their population [1], with a birth rate of 1.77 and 1.44 per woman, respectively [2,3].As a result, it is projected that older adults will outnumber children 18 or under in the US by 2035 for the first time in history [4]; likewise, 40% of Japan's population will be over 65 by 2050 [5].Most older adults who live with chronic conditions require home care for long periods of time.Women are traditional family caregivers across cultures [6].With the decease of future caregivers-the kid generation, and the young adult children are working and/or having their own nuclear family to take care of, the middle-aged and older women may inevitably take on the long-term caregiving duties at home.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Kao et al. (2018) conducted a review in Coronary Heart Disease. Caregiving stress vs. No caregiving stress / non-caregivers was evaluated. Long-term caregiving stress is a significant risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease, particularly among middle-aged and older female caregivers.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: