New findings published in the current online version of the American Journal of Epidemiology report that providing care for a chronically ill or disabled family member does not increase health risk, and it is also associated with a nine-month extension in life expectancy for the caregiver.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Center on Aging and Health and from the University of South Florida and UAB Associate Professor Suzanne Judd, Ph.D., say their study results suggest that those who assist a chronically ill or disabled family member enjoy an 18 percent survival advantage compared to statistically matched noncaregivers.
The study cohort came from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study. Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, REGARDS looked at information from more than 30,000 people, age 45 years or older, to assess the excess stroke risk among African-Americans living in the nation’s southeastern “stroke belt.” The caregiver study looked at whether 3,503 family caregivers from the REGARDS study showed differences in rates of death from all causes over a six-year period compared with a matched sample of 3,503 noncaregivers.
Study results suggest that those who assist a chronically ill or disabled family member enjoy an 18 percent survival advantage compared to statistically matched noncaregivers.