Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42580696›Full record

ArticleAge and ageing2026

Health and health service use of Australian female live-in caregivers at multiple caregiver trajectory timepoints: a population-based dataset with time-matched controls.

Leigh Tooth, Richard Hockey, Gita D Mishra

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Age and ageing, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Leigh ToothThe University of Queensland Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences-Public Health, Edith Cavell Building, Fourth Avenue, Herston Precinct, Herston, Queensland 4006, Australia.
Richard HockeyThe University of Queensland Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences-Public Health, Edith Cavell Building, Fourth Avenue, Herston Precinct, Herston, Queensland 4006, Australia.
Gita D MishraThe University of Queensland Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences-Public Health, Edith Cavell Building, Fourth Avenue, Herston Precinct, Herston, Queensland 4006, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo compare health and health service use in female live-in caregivers along multiple timepoints with population-based controls over a 20-year period.

methodsData from 6000 women aged 50-77 caring for someone who was ill, disabled or frail, were collected over eight waves of Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health 1946-51 cohort (from 2001 to 2022). Physical functioning (PF), general mental health (MH), depressive symptoms, stress and general practitioner (GP) and medical specialist visits were compared between caregivers and time-matched controls, before, during and after caregiving. Fully adjusted mixed linear models or logistic regression, including sensitivity analyses by caregiving intensity, were conducted.

resultsIn adjusted results, caregivers and controls had similar initial levels of PF, but caregivers had significantly poorer PF over time including during [2.39 (-3.68, -1.10)] and after stopping caregiving [-2.19 (-3.51, -0.87)]. Caregivers had poorer MH on all three measures [eg, -5.56 (-6.61, -4.51) on SF-36 MH] and more GP visits across the study than controls, with the poorest scores in the period before stopping caregiving. Accessing medical specialists did not differ between caregivers and controls until after stopping caregiving, when caregivers had higher odds [1.22 (1.06, 1.40)]. Associations were stronger in caregivers providing higher intensity care.

conclusionsCaregiver physical and MH was poorest and GP visits highest prior to stopping caregiving, while specialist visits increased after stopping caregiving. Interventions to assist caregivers manage their own health needs, particularly in the period before stopping caregiving, and assisting them maintain health service use throughout and following caregiving cessation should be tested.

Indexed as

CaregiversPatient Acceptance of Health CareAgedAustraliaDepressionFemaleHealth StatusHumansLongitudinal StudiesMental HealthMiddle AgedStress, PsychologicalTime Factorscaregiverhealthmentalolder peoplephysicalservices

Identifiers

PMID42580696
PMCPMC13461219

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.