Family Alzheimer’s carers face shorter lives
Stressed out spouses and children caring for Alzheimer’s patients will cut short their lives by up to eight years if they don’t get some time off,.
A new US study suggesting that chronic stress developed by spouses and children caring for Alzheimer’s patients caused permanent damage to their immune cells.
The caregivers study was conducted by researchers from the Ohio State University and the United States’ National Institute of Aging.
A group of Alzheimer’s disease caregivers were studied against a group of non-caregivers, matched for age, sex and other factors.
Researchers found that the symptoms of depression in the caregivers were twice as severe as those apparent in the control group.
They also had fewer lymphocytes, an important part of the immune system; and higher cytokines, molecules key to the inflammation response.
The results were published in the latest edition of Journal of Immunology.
