ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences2015
The Relationship Between Caregiving and Mortality After Accounting for Time-Varying Caregiver Status and Addressing the Healthy Caregiver Hypothesis.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Mortality, Morbidity and Health-Related Outcomes in Informal Caregivers Compared to Non-Caregivers: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Is Family Caregiving Associated With Inflammation or Compromised Immunity? A Meta-Analysis.The Gerontologist · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of Psychosocial Interventions and Caregiving Stress on Cardiovascular Biomarkers in Family Dementia Caregivers: The UCSD Pleasant Events Program (PEP) Randomized Controlled Trial.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2020Trial
- Health behaviour changes around transitions into and out of unpaid caregiving in the UK: A longitudinal study.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- 'Whole person' caregiver assessment: Insights from heart failure and stroke caregivers.Social sciences & humanities open · 2026Article
- Caregiving outcomes among informal caregivers of persons with multimorbidity and dementia: a scoping review.European geriatric medicine · 2025Article
- Caregiving is associated with lower brain age in humans.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- Informal Caregiving: Health System Cost Implications.Western journal of nursing research · 2025Article
- Revisiting the caregiver stress process: Does family caregiving really lead to worse mental health outcomes?Advances in life course research · 2023Article
- Examining the Rationale for Studying Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Caregiver Distress.Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2023Review
- Full-Time Caregiving during COVID-19 based on Minority Identifications, Generation, and Vaccination Status.Research in the sociology of health care · 2023Article
- Longitudinal association between informal unpaid caregiving and mental health amongst working age adults in high-income OECD countries: A systematic review.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Article
- The Differential Effects of Caregiving Intensity on Overnight Hospitalization.Western journal of nursing research · 2022Article
- The Changing Tides of Caregiving During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Decreasing and Increasing Care Provision Relates to Caregiver Well-Being.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Article
- A Longitudinal Assessment of Parental Caregiving and Blood Pressure Trajectories: Findings from the China Health and Nutrition Survey for Women 2000-2011.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2021Article
- Is "Busy" Always Better? Time-Use Activities and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Mexican Adults.Innovation in aging · 2020Article
- Assessing the Role of Selection Bias in the Protective Relationship Between Caregiving and Mortality.American journal of epidemiology · 2019Article
- Caregiving Intensity and Mortality in Older Women, Accounting for Time-Varying and Lagged Caregiver Status: The Caregiver-Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Study.The Gerontologist · 2019Article
- Spouse's functional disability and mortality: The Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study.Geriatrics & gerontology international · 2019Article
- Early-Life Parent-Child Relationships and Adult Children's Support of Unpartnered Parents in Later Life.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrevious studies have shown inconsistent associations between caregiving and mortality. This may be due to analyzing caregiver status at baseline only, and that better health is probably related to taking on caregiving responsibilities and continuing in that role. The latter is termed The Healthy Caregiver Hypothesis, similar to the Healthy Worker Effect in occupational epidemiology. We applied common approaches from occupational epidemiology to evaluate the association between caregiving and mortality, including treating caregiving as time-varying and lagging exposure up to 5 years.
methodsCaregiving status among 1,068 women (baseline mean age = 81.0 years; 35% caregivers) participating in the Caregiver-Study of Osteoporotic Fractures study was assessed at five interviews conducted between 1999 and 2009. Mortality was determined through January 2012. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals adjusted for sociodemographics, perceived stress, and functional limitations.
resultsA total of 483 participants died during follow-up (38.8% and 48.7% of baseline caregivers and noncaregivers, respectively). Using baseline caregiving status, the association with mortality was 0.77, 0.62-0.95. Models of time-varying caregiving status showed a more pronounced reduction in mortality in current caregivers (hazard ratios = 0.54, 0.38-0.75), which diminished with longer lag periods (3-year lag hazard ratio = 0.68, 0.52-0.88, 5-year lag hazard ratios = 0.76, 0.60-0.95).
conclusionsOverall, caregivers had lower mortality rates than noncaregivers in all analyses. These associations were sensitive to the lagged period, indicating that the timing of leaving caregiving does influence this relationship and should be considered in future investigations.
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