ArticleBMJ open2024
Rural-urban and regional variations in aspects of caregiving, support services and caregiver health in the USA: evidence from a national survey.
Article in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- "Kinlessness", friend and family support, and cognitive function by region and urbanicity in the United States.Health & place · 2026Article
- Assessment of quality of life and associated factors among primary caregivers of cancer patients in Palestine: a cross-sectional study.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Validation of the Korean Versions of the Scale of Food Allergy Anxiety and the Food Allergy Anxiety Scales for Children and Parents.Allergy, asthma & immunology research · 2026Article
- Patient-centered burdens and economic outcomes among patients who are veterans, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and people living in rural areas and their caregivers: a scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Urbanicity and Disparities in the Functional and Physical Abilities of Older Adults Using the Health and Retirement Study: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2025Article
- Very low birth weight infant outcomes in a resource-limited setting: a five-year follow-up study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Article
- Caregivers' Perspectives on Preventive Services for Medicare Beneficiaries with Cognitive Impairment: A Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data.Nursing economic$Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesDue to substantial regional variability in available caregiving services and supports, culture and health status among informal caregivers in the USA, the study objective was to explore how rural-urban differences in aspects of caregiving-caregiving intensity, distance to care recipient, caregiver burden, caregiver health and caregiving support-vary by US Census region (Northeast, South, Midwest and West) after accounting for other social determinants of health.
designThis study was a secondary analysis of multiwave, cross-sectional study data.
settingThe data were collected on a representative sample of informal, unpaid caregivers to older adults.
participantsA sample of n=3551 informal caregivers from the National Study of Caregiving identified by older adult care recipients from waves 1 (2011) and 5 (2015) of the National Health and Aging Trends Study. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measures were caregiving intensity (provided support for/with the number of activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental ADL (IADLs)) caregiver assisted with, hours of caregiving per month), caregiver burden (physical, emotional and financial), support services sought (types and total number), caregivers' self-reported health and health status (individual comorbidities and a total number of comorbidities). Analyses were stratified by US Census region and rural-urban status, as defined by the US Census Bureau, of census tract of caregiver residence.
resultsUrban caregivers provided higher levels of ADL support in the Northeast (beta=0.19, 95% CI 0.03, 0.35) and West (beta=0.15, 95% CI 0.05,0.26) regions. Urban caregivers provided significantly higher levels of ADL support (p=0.020), IADL support (p=0.033) and total ADLs plus IADLs (p=0.013) than rural caregivers. Caregivers living in the South had higher amounts of monthly hours spent caregiving, ADL support, IADL support and combined ADLs plus IADLs and were more likely to have obesity, report poor or fair health, have heart conditions and experience emotional difficulty from caregiving (all p<0.001).
conclusionsStudy findings underscore caregiving's multifaceted and complex nature and identify important urban-rural and regional differences in caregiving in the USA. Healthcare providers and healthcare organisations can have an important role in identifying and mitigating the negative impacts of caregiving on caregivers' overall health. Interventions and support should be tailored to caregivers' demographic backgrounds, addressing regional differences.
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