Dignified Aging Elder Care Management Services and Consulting-Donna Gagnon- Services Available Throughout Pinellas and Hillsborough County, Florida serving Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, Palm Harbor, Oldsmar, Largo, Belleair. Pinellas Park

Elderly spousal caregivers with a history of chronic illness themselves who are experiencing caregiving related stress have a 63% higher mortality rate than their non-caregiving peers.

(Source: Schulz, R. and Beach, S. R. Caregiving as a Risk Factor for Mortality: The Caregiver Health Effects Study, Journal of the American Medical Association, December 15, 1999, Vol. 282, No. 23)
The stress of family caregiving for person's with dementia has been shown to impact a person's immune system for up to three years after their caregiving ends thus increasing their chances of developing a chronic illness themselves.

(Source: Drs.Janice-Kiecolt Glaser and Ronald Glaser 'Chronic stress and age-related increases in the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 30, 2003.)
Family caregivers who provide care 36 or more hours weekly are more likely than non-caregivers to experience symptoms of depression or anxiety. For spouses the rate is six times higher; for those caring for a parent the rate is twice as high.

(Source: Cannuscio, CC, C Jones, I Kawachi, GA Colditz, L Berkman and E Rimm, Reverberation of family illness: A longitudinal assessment of informal caregiver and mental health status in the nurses' health study. American Journal of Public Health 2002; 92:305-1311.)
Family caregivers providing high levels of care have a 51% incidence of sleeplessness and a 41% incidence of back pain.

(Source: National Family Caregivers Association, Caregiving Across the Life Cycle, 1998)