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Endothelial dysfunction increased in elderly individuals providing care for Alzheimer’s
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The chronic stress involved with caregiving may be a link to the observed increased risk of CVD in elderly caregivers, study findings suggested.
To investigate the relationship between chronic caregiving stress and endothelial dysfunction assessed using reactive hyperemia–induced flow-mediated dilation (FMD), researchers studied elderly individuals (n=78), of whom 55 were providing in-home care to a spouse with Alzheimer’s disease, and 23 were married and living with a healthy spouse. They used an analysis of covariance to examine the relationships between advancing dementia severity (Clinical Dementia Rating scores), FMD and nitroglycerin-induced vasodilatation of the brachial artery, and examined the relationship between years of caregiving and FMD with multiple linear regression.
Participants caring for a spouse with moderate to severe dementia showed worse FMD than those caring for a spouse with mild dementia (P=.028) and those not giving care (P=.032). Within the caregiver sample, the number of years of giving care was associated with FMD (P<.001). Additionally, systolic BP for the caregivers had a mean average of 135.1 ± 16.1 mm Hg, while for the non-caregivers it was 131.8 ±14.6 mm Hg.
“Because caregiving and worse endothelial function have been associated with an increased risk of CV events, these results suggest a potential mechanism by which the chronic stresses of caregiving leads to negative health outcomes,” researchers wrote. “Future studies should examine FMD, CV events and stress among caregivers over time to determine the associations among these variables.”
Mausbach B. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2010; doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2009.11.093.