Medical conditions and depressive symptoms: a study of kinship profiles in dementia caregivers

Abstract

Objective To analyze the association between diverse medical conditions and depressive symptoms in different profiles of dementia caregivers based on sex and kinship (wives, husbands, daughters, and sons).

Methods Individual interviews were conducted with 338 dementia family caregivers. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Spanish version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale. Medical conditions encompassed the following physical diseases: high cholesterol, osteoarthritis, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular, brain, kidney, liver, and stomach diseases.Logistic regression analyses were carried out to identify determinants associated to thepresenceof depressive symptoms.

Results High cholesterol was the most frequent disease among caregivers.Significant differences among groups were found in depressive symptoms: between wives (50.60%) and husbands (28.40%),(p = 0.033), and between daughters (57.00%) and husbands (p = 0.001). Half of the sonsreported thepresenceof depressive symptoms. In daughters, depressive symptomatology was significantly more likely whether they presented a worse reaction to disruptive behaviors, a poor assessment of global deterioration of care recipient, and less perceived health status. Furthermore, daughters were 1.94 times more likely to experience depressive symptoms if they presented medical conditions (p = 0.017).

Conclusions Daughter caregivers that have depressive and physical diseases may be an especially vulnerable subgroup of caregivers that may not be the ideal population to provide care. Access to high-quality, evidence-based therapies focused on improving caregivers' physical health could have a positiveeffecton thepresenceof depressive symptoms, particularly in the case of daughter caregivers.