Depressive Symptoms and Caregiving Intensity Before and After Onset of Dementia in Partners: A Retrospective, Observational Study

Background: Caring for a partner with dementia poses significant emotional burden and high care demands, but changes in impacts before and after dementia onset is unclear. Objective: Examine changes in depressive symptoms and hours of care provided by caregivers through the course of their partners’ cognitive decline. Methods: Retrospective, observational study using household survey data from 2000–2016 Health and Retirement Study and count models to evaluate older individuals’ (ages ≥51 y) depressive symptoms (measured using the shortened Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) and weekly caregiving in the 10 years before and after their partners’ dementia onset (identified using Telephone Interview Cognitive Status screening). Relationships were examined overall and by sex and race. Results: We identified 8298 observations for 1836 older caregivers whose partners developed dementia. From before to after partners’ dementia onset, caregivers’ mean (SD) depressive symptoms increased from 1.4 (1.9) to 1.9 (2.1) (P
Source: Medical Care - Category: Health Management Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research