Cortisol response to stress in caregivers of offspring with autism spectrum disorder is associated with care recipient characteristics

Figures & data

Table 1. Mean ± SEM anthropometrical and socio-demographic data, and social autonomy of the care recipient in three groups (child, adolescent and adult patients).

	Child patients	Adolescent patients	Adult patients
	(n = 15)	(n = 12)	(n = 11)
Age (years)***	8.7 ± 0.48	14.2 ± 0.33	20.5 ± 1.4
Range of age (years)	5–11	12–16	17–30
Gender
Men	12	10	10
Women	3	2	1
Diagnosis‡
Asperger syndrome	0	7	4
Autism	15	5	7
Educational level
No qualification	10	4	6
Basic qualification	1	4	0
High school	0	3	3
Others	4	1	2
Medication intake	8	8	8
Caring years from definitive diagnosis***	6.8 ± 0.71	12.5 ± 0.93	16.6 ± 2.04
Autism quotient	15.5 ± 1.74	17.5 ± 1.74	17.1 ± 1.79
Global activity	51.7 ± 5.06	58.3 ± 4.58	44.5 ± 6.23
Independence (Barthel index)***	74.5 ± 4.51	92.0 ± 3.16	91.1 ± 2.4
Disability percentage	43.3	47.8	51.0
Social autonomy of the patient
Institutionalized	3	3	3
Hospital admissions†	2	4	7
Number of leisure activities	2.4 ± 0.31	3.09 ± 0.62	2.73 ± 0.33

***p < 0.0001, ANOVA; †p < 0.05, ‡p = 0.003, χ² test.

SEM = standard error of mean; n = sample size.

Table 2. Mean ± SEM or count for characteristics and socio-demographic data in caregivers of child patients, adolescent patients and adult patients.

	Caregivers of child patients	Caregivers of adolescent patients	Caregivers of adult patients
	(n = 15)	(n = 12)	(n = 11)
Age (years)***	40.4 ± 1.09	45.8 ± 0.99	51.5 ± 1.79
Body mass index	28.4 ± 1.29	27.0 ± 1.64	26.8 ± 1.42
Gender
Men	6	4	2
Women	9	8	9
Marital status
Married	13	12	9
Others	2	0	2
Educational level
Basic educational level	2	6	2
Graduate level	5	2	0
College level	8	4	9
Smokers	2	4	3
Work
Employed	14	11	11
Unemployed	1	1	0
With information about disorder	14	11	9
Care status
Time weekly caring (h)	50.1 ± 11.21	83.0 ± 17.12	48.4 ± 14.51
Worried about the future	9.8 ± 0.15	9.7 ± 0.25	9.5 ± 0.28
Suffering about the disease	9.3 ± 0.29	8.6 ± 0.5	8.7 ± 0.66
Caregiver Burden Inventory	42.1 ± 2.97	38.4 ± 5.35	40.2 ± 4.78
Resilience	12.9 ± 0.94	13.2 ± 0.77	15.3 ± 0.92
Social support (MOS-SS)
Emotional/informational	26.8 ± 1.71	26.2 ± 2.59	30.8 ± 1.49
Tangible	13.1 ± 1.23	15.2 ± 1.31	14.8 ± 1.2
Positive social interactions	13.4 ± 0.72	14.5 ± 1.29	15.8 ± 0.53
Affectionate	12.0 ± 0.59	11.8 ± 0.9	11.5 ± 0.78

MOS-SS: Medical Outcome Social Support Survey.

***p < 0.0001, ANOVA.

SEM = standard error of mean, n = sample size.

Table 3. Mean ± SEM psychological response to psychosocial stress in caregivers of child patients, adolescent patients and adult patients.

	Caregivers of child patients		Caregivers of adolescent patients		Caregivers of adult patients
	(n = 15)		(n = 12)		(n = 11)
	Pre-stress	Post-stress	Pre-stress	Post-stress	Pre-stress	Post-stress
Task appraisal
Internal attribution	–	6.7 ± 0.67	–	7.2 ± 0.61	–	6.7 ± 0.81
External attribution	–	3.8 ± 0.73	–	2.5 ± 0.67	–	4.8 ± 0.88
Perceived stress	–	5.3 ± 0.7	–	5.9 ± 0.64	–	6.7 ± 0.84
Dissatisfaction feelings	–	4.4 ± 0.66	–	4.2 ± 0.61	–	4.1 ± 0.8
Mood
Depression	1.8 ± 1.15	3.1 ± 1.25	3.0 ± 1.05	1.3 ± 1.14	2.0 ± 1.38	3.4 ± 1.5
Vigor	8.3 ± 1.86	7.7 ± 1.89	8.5 ± 1.71	8.7 ± 1.74	11.8 ± 2.24	10.3 ± 2.28
Tension	4.3 ± 0.85	9.3 ± 1.67	4.8 ± 0.78	8.2 ± 1.53	4.0 ± 1.02	8.8 ± 2.01
Fatigue	3.4 ± 1.04	4.7 ± 1.16	3.5 ± 0.95	3.1 ± 1.06	3.7 ± 1.24	3.8 ± 1.39
Anger	0.95 ± 0.85	2.5 ± 1.56	2.1 ± 0.78	2.9 ± 1.43	0.55 ± 1.03	3.8 ± 1.88
State of anxiety	17.5 ± 2.1	24.2 ± 3.37	17.7 ± 1.92	25.1 ± 3.09	16.5 ± 2.52	29.1 ± 4.05
State of anger
Physical expression of anger**	5.0 ± 0.00	5.2 ± 0.14	5.0 ± 0.00	5.0 ± 0.13	5.0 ± 0.00	5.0 ± 0.17
Verbal expression of anger	5.1 ± 0.17	5.4 ± 0.32	5.3 ± 0.15	5.6 ± 0.29	5.0 ± 0.2	5.3 ± 0.38
Feeling of anger	5.4 ± 0.52	5.9 ± 0.67	6.0 ± 0.47	6.1 ± 0.62	5.8 ± 0.62	6.9 ± 0.81

**p < 0.01, ANOVA.

SEM = standard error of mean; n = sample size.

Figure 1. Estimated marginal means of cortisol concentration in caregivers of child, adolescent and adult patients. Psychosocial stressor: a set of mental tasks lasting 20 min in front of a committee of two men and three women. Participants performed attention, declarative, and timed arithmetic tasks (adapted from TSST). For all times measured numbers of caregivers were: for child patients, n = 15; for adolescent patients, n = 12; for adult patients, n = 11; ’= minutes; Csal = salivary cortisol sample. Bars indicate standard error of mean. * = significant differences (p < 0.05) versus pre-stressor and other groups at same time, ANOVA.