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Elder Care News
Caregivers of Family Heart Patients Appear to
Increase Their Own Risk
Because stress and depression can raise the risk of
heart disease
Lori Mosca, M.D. |
March 17, 2008 - Being a caregiver for a family
member recently hospitalized with heart disease can affect the
caregiver’s mental health – and possibly the caregiver’s own heart
health, according to research presented today. Researchers found these
results when studying psychological strain and depression in people who
provided most or all of a patient’s care.
Researchers examined heart risk factors in family
members of cardiac patients and found that those who provided all or
most of a patient’s care had higher levels of risk factors for heart
disease than non-caregivers – and those who reported higher caregiver
strain after six months were more likely to be depressed than those who
provided less or no care.
Lori Mosca, M.D., professor of medicine at Columbia
University Medical Center, presented these findings at the American
Heart Association’s 48th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease
Epidemiology and Prevention, in Colorado. Dr. Mosca’s study is part of
the ongoing National Institutes of Health-sponsored Family Intervention
Trial of Heart Health (FIT Heart), for which Dr. Mosca is the principal
investigator.
For FIT Heart, researchers recruited 501 family
members or co-habitants of patients hospitalized for cardiac events. Six
months later, researchers determined the approximate time each spent as
a caregiver, and assessed their lifestyles, psychological strain and
whether they were depressed.
Caregivers who reported the highest levels of
depression and the lowest levels of social support at baseline had the
highest level of caregiver strain reported at six months, Mosca said.
Because stress and depression can raise the risk of
heart disease, caregivers need also to care for themselves, such as
being sure to engage in regular physical activity, she said.
Researchers hypothesized also that family members
of a hospitalized heart patient might think at the time about their own
risk of cardiac disease. If so, “this is a motivational moment and a
unique opportunity to educate them, and help them lower their risks,”
Dr. Mosca added.
Editor’s Notes:
Columbia University Medical Center provides
international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research,
in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The
medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of
many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists, and public health
professionals at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Mailman
School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of
Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in
1767, Columbia’s College of Physicians & Surgeons was the first
institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree. Among the most
selective medical schools in the country, the school is home to the
largest medical research enterprise in New York State and one of the
largest in the United States.
For more information, visit
www.cumc.columbia.edu.
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