Mental health and physical health of family caregivers for persons with dementia: A comparison of African American and white caregivers

Abstract

This investigation analyzed the differences between African American and white caregivers in the effects of family caregiving for a person with dementia on mental health and physical health variables (including subjective health, reported diseases and cardiovascular measures). A population-based sample of 102 caregivers is compared with 102 non-caregivers matched on ethnicity, gender and age. There were no significant group differences for mental health effects. Most significant physical health effects were attributable to main effects of ethnicity rather than caregiving status. However, African American caregivers had higher diastolic blood pressure than all other groups, a finding consistent with group-specific risk for circulatory system disorders.

Acknowledgements

The research reported on in this article was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG 16307). Dr. Flynn Longmire and Dr. David were supported in part by the Multidisciplinary Training Grant in Gerontology, Vern Bengtson, Director, during the writing of this paper.