TY - JOUR T1 - Does duration of spousal caregiving affect risk of depression onset? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study. JF - Am J Geriatr Psychiatry Y1 - 2014 A1 - Benjamin D Capistrant A1 - Lisa F Berkman A1 - M. Maria Glymour KW - Aged KW - Caregivers KW - depression KW - Female KW - Health Surveys KW - Humans KW - Longitudinal Studies KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Retirement KW - Risk Factors KW - Spouses KW - Time Factors KW - United States AB -

OBJECTIVES: To assess the association of current and long-term spousal caregiving with risk of depression in a nationally (U.S.) representative sample of older adults.

METHODS: We studied married and depression-free Health and Retirement Study respondents aged 50 years and older (n = 9,420) at baseline from 2000 to 2010. Current (≥14 hours per week of help with instrumental/activities of daily living for a spouse in the most recent biennial survey) and long-term caregiving (care at two consecutive surveys) were used to predict onset of elevated depressive symptoms (≥3 on a modified Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale) with discrete-time hazards models and time-updated exposure and covariate information.

RESULTS: Current caregiving was associated with significant elevations in risk of depression onset (hazard ratio: 1.64; Wald χ(2), 1 df: 28.34; p <0.0001). Effect estimates for long-term caregiving were similar (hazard ratio: 1.52, Wald χ(2), 1 df: 3.63; p = 0.06).

CONCLUSIONS: Current spousal caregiving significantly predicted onset of depression; the association was not exacerbated by longer duration of caregiving.

PB - 22 VL - 22 IS - 8 N1 - Times Cited: 0 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23791537?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC3785551 U4 - Caregiving/depression/depressive symptoms/older adults/spouses/spousal caregiving ER -