Trend in Respite Use by Race Among Caregivers for People Living With Dementia

Respite care provides short-term relief for caregivers. Despite efforts to promote respite use among Black caregivers, little is known if disparities in respite use between Black and White dementia caregivers have decreased over time. We examined a trend nationally to see if more recent efforts may have helped reduce disparities in respite use.

We used a repeated cross-sectional design, with the data from 2015, 2017, and 2021 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study and National Study of Caregiving. Our study sample included 764 (in 2015), 839 (in 2017), and 521 (in 2021) non-Hispanic White and Black caregivers who provided care to older adults living with dementia, representing weighted 5 157 569 (2015), 5 877 997 (2017), and 4 712 144 (2021) dementia caregivers nationally. We conducted logistic regression models to assess the differences in respite use between White and Black caregivers over time.

In 2015, Black dementia caregivers had a respite care use rate 11.6 percentage points (95% CI: -16.9 to -6.4) lower than that of White dementia caregivers. However, both in 2017 and 2021, the difference in the use of respite was not statistically significant, leading to a reduced or no gap in respite use between White and Black dementia caregivers. However, respite use remained low in both groups.

Although the gap in respite use between Black and White dementia caregivers had been gradually narrowed over time, more efforts are needed to encourage more respite use among both groups through targeted efforts to address factors that hinder respite use.