Filial caregiving is associated with greater neuroendocrine dysfunction: Evidence from the 2005 national survey of midlife in the United States

SAGE Open Medicine

Volumn 2, Issue , 2014, Pages 1-10

  Kang, Sunwoo ^a   Marks, Nadine F ^b  

^a SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

Author keywords

Adrenal axis; Allostatic load; Biological risk; Caregiving; Gender; Hypothalamic; Inflammatory; Metabolic; Neuroendocrine; Pituitary

Indexed keywords

EID: 84927534077     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20503121     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/2050312113520152     Document Type: Article

References (53)

1. Gitlin LN and Schulz R. Family caregiving of older adults. In: Prohaska TR, Anderson LA and Binstock R (eds) Public health for an aging society. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012, pp. 181–203.
2. National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. Caregiving in the U.S. Bethesda, MD: National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 2009.
3. Hoyert DL and Seltzer MM. Factors related to the well-being and life activities of family caregivers. Fam Relat 1992; 41: 74–81.
4. Pinquart M and Sorensen S. Association of stressors and uplifts of caregiving with caregiver burden and depressed mood: a meta-analysis. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2003; 58: P112–P128.
5. Pinquart M and Sorensen S. Differences between caregivers and noncaregivers in psychological health and physical health: a meta-analysis. Psychol Aging 2003; 18: 250–267.
6. Pinquart M and Sorensen S. Gender differences in caregiver stressors, social resources, and health: an updated meta-analysis. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2006; 61: P33–P45.
7. Pinquart M and Sorensen S. Correlates of physical health of informal caregivers: a meta-analysis. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2007; 62: P126–P137.
8. Young R and Kahana EF. Specifying caregiver outcomes: gender and relationship aspects of caregiving strain. Gerontologist 1989; 29: 660–666.
9. Vitaliano PP, Zhang J and Scanlan JM. Is caregiving hazardous for one’s physical health? A meta-analysis. Psychol Bull 2003; 129: 946–972.
10. Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Dura JR, Speicher CE, et al. Spousal caregivers of dementia victims: longitudinal changes in immunity and health. Psychosom Med 1991; 53: 345–362.
11. Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Glaser R, Gravenstein S, et al. Chronic stress alters the immune response to influenza virus vaccine in older adults. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1996; 93: 3043–3047.
12. Shaw WS, Patterson TL, Ziegler MG, et al. Accelerated risk of hypertensive blood pressure recordings among Alzheimer caregivers. J Psychosom Res 1999; 46: 215–227.
13. Vedhara K, Cox NK, Wilcock GK, et al. Chronic stress in elderly carers of dementia patients and antibody response to influenza vaccination. Lancet 1999; 353: 627–631.
14. Marks NF, Lambert JD and Choi H. Transitions to caregiving, gender, and psychological well-being: a prospective U.S. national study. J Marriage Fam 2002; 64: 657–667.
15. Neal M, Ingersoll-Dayton B and Starrels ME. Gender and relationship differences in caregiving pattern and consequences among employed caregivers. Gerontologist 1997; 37: 804–816.
16. Strawbridge WJ, Wallhagen MI, Shema SJ, et al. New burdens or more of the same? Comparing grandparent, spouse, and adult-child caregivers. Gerontologist 1997; 37: 505–510.
17. Engel GL. The need for a new medicine model: a challenge for biomedicine. Science 1977; 196: 129–136.
18. Disorbio JM, Bruns D and Barolat G. Assessment and treatment of chronic pain: a physician’s guide to a biopsychosocial approach. Prac Pain Manage 2006; 6: 11–27.
19. Elder GH Jr, Johnson MK and Crosnoe R. Perspective on the life course. In: Mortimer JT and Shanahan MJ (eds) Handbook of the life course. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2003, pp. 3–19.
20. Bengtson VL and Allen KR. The life course perspective applied to families over time. In: Boss PG, Doherty WJ, LaRossa R, et al. (eds) Sourcebook of family theories and methods. New York: Plenum Publishers, 1993, pp. 469–499.
21. Campbell LD and Martin-Matthews A. The gendered nature of men’s filial care. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2003; 58(6): S350–S358.
22. Yee JL and Schultz R. Gender differences in psychiatric morbidity among family caregivers: a review and analysis. Gerontologist 2000; 40: 147–164.
23. Monin JK and Schulz R. Interpersonal effects of suffering in older adult caregiving relationships. Psychol Aging 2009; 24(3): 681–695.
24. Calasanti T and King N. Taking “women’s work” “like a man”: husbands’ experiences of care work. Gerontologist 2007; 47(4): 516–527.
25. Kramer BJ. Men caregivers: an overview. In: Kramer BJ and Thompson EH (eds) Men as caregivers: theory, research, and service implications. New York: Springer, 2001, pp. 9–19.
26. McEwen B. Stress, adaptation, and disease. Allostasis and allostatic load. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1998; 840: 33–44.
27. Seeman TE, Singer BH, Rowe JW, et al. Price of adapta-tion—allostatic load and its health consequences: MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging. Arch Intern Med 1997; 157: 2259–2268.
28. Seeman TE, McEwen BS, Rowe JW, et al. Allostatic load as a marker of cumulative biological risk: MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2001; 98: 4770– 4775.
29. Juster RP, McEwen BS and Lupien SJ. Allostatic load biomarkers of stress and impact on health and cognition. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2009; 35: 2–16.
30. Nielsen L, Seeman T and Hahn A. NIA workshop on allostatic load. Washington, DC: National Institute on Aging, National Institutes on Health, 2007.
31. Seeman TE, Singer BH, Ryff CD, et al. Social relationships, gender, and allostatic load across two age cohorts. Psychosom Med 2002; 64: 395–406.
32. Seeman T, Glei D, Goldman N, et al. Social relationships and allostatic load in Taiwanese elderly and near elderly. Soc Sci Med 2004; 59: 2245–2257.
33. Clark MS, Bond MJ and Hecker JR. Environmental stress, psychological stress and allostatic load. Psychol Health Med 2007; 12: 18–30.
34. Bauer ME, Vedhara K, Perks P, et al. Chronic stress in caregivers of dementia patients is associated with reduced lymphocyte sensitivity to glucocorticoids. J Neuroimmunol 2000; 103: 84–92.
35. Damjanovic AK, Yang Y, Glaser R, et al. Accelerated tel-omere erosion is associated with declining immune function of caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients. J Immunol 2007; 179: 4249–4254.
36. Glaser R, MacCallum RC, Laskowski BF, et al. Evidence for a shift in the Th-1 to Th-2 cytokine response associated with chronic stress and aging. J Gerontol 2001; 56: 470–482.
37. Cacioppo JT, Burleson MH, Poehlmann KM, et al. Autonomic and neuroendocrine responses to mild psychological stressors: effects of chronic stress on older women. Ann Behav Med 2000; 22: 140–148.
38. Grant I, Adler KA, Patterson TL, et al. Health consequences of Alzheimer’s caregiving transitions: effects of placement and bereavement. Psychosom Med 2002; 64: 477–486.
39. Pradhan AD, Manson JE, Rifai N, et al. C-reactive protein, Interleukin-6, and risk of developing Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The Journal of the American Medical Association 2001; 286: 327–334. DOI: 10.1001/jama.286.3.327.
40. Von Kanel R, Dimsdale J, Ancoli-Israel S, et al. Poor sleep is associated with higher plasma proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 and procoagulant marker fibrin D-dimer in older caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease. J Am Geriatr Soc 2006; 54: 431–437.
41. Brummett BH, Boyle SH, Siegler IC, et al. HPA axis function in male caregivers: effect of the monoamine oxidase-A gene promoter (MAOA-uVNTR). Biol Psychol 2008; 79: 250–255.
42. Gallagher-Thompson D, Shurgot GR, Roder K, et al. Ethnicity, stress, and cortisol function in Hispanic and non-Hispanic White women: a preliminary study of family dementia caregivers and noncaregivers. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2006; 14: 334–342.
43. De Vugt ME, Nicolson NA, Aalten P, et al. Behavioral problems in dementia patients and salivary cortisol patterns in caregivers. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 2005; 17: 201–207.
44. Son J, Erno A, Shea DG, et al. The caregiver stress process and health outcomes. J Aging Health 2007; 19: 871–887.
45. Scanlan JM, Vitaliano PP, Ochs HD, et al. CD4 and CD8 counts are associated with interactions of gender and psychosocial stress. Psychosom Med 1998; 60: 644–653.
46. Moritz DJ, Kasl SV and Ostfeld AM. The health impact of living with a cognitively impaired elderly spouse: depressive symptoms and social functioning. J Gerontol 1992; 44: S17–S27.
47. Vitaliano PP, Russo J and Niaura R. Plasma lipids and their relationships with psychosocial factors in older adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 1995; 50: 18–24.
48. Midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS), http://midmac.med.harvard.edu/research.html
49. Asch SM, Kerr EA, Keesey J, et al. Who is at greatest risk for receiving poor-quality health care? N Engl J Med 2006; 345: 1147–1157.
50. Lubetkin EI, Jia H, Franks P, et al. Relationship among soci-odemographic factors, clinical conditions, and health-related quality of life: examining the EQ-5D in the U.S. general population. Qual Life Res 2005; 14: 2187–2196.
51. Rossi AS and Rossi PH. Of human bonding: parent-child relations across the life course. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1990.
52. Roth DL, Perkins M, Wadley VG, et al. Family caregiving and emotional strain: associations with quality of life in a large national sample of middle-aged and older adults. Qual Life Res 2009; 18: 679–688.
53. Perkins M, Howard VJ, Wadley VG, et al. Caregiving strain and all-cause mortality: evidence from the REGARDS study. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2013; 68(4): 504–512.