Does caregiver stress get under the skin? Associations with care recipient inflammation

A wealth of research has focused on the caregiving stress process, while less is devoted to understanding how caregiver stress may impact health outcomes in the care recipient. We examine whether higher levels of caregiver role overload will be associated with care recipients' C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations, an inflammatory biohormone. Additionally, this study observed whether caregivers' positive and negative appraisals of caregiving moderated this association.

Data are drawn from the 2017 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and associated National Study of Caregiving (NSOC). CRP levels were assessed via dried blood spot sample. We examine the main effect of caregiver role overload on care recipient CRP, adjusting for care recipient demographics and care context. Separate models were run on the interaction of overload with emotional difficulty of care and caregiving gains to test whether appraisal of care moderates the association between caregiving overload and care recipient CRP.

Care recipients were predominantly female (63.72%) and averaged 78.32 years old. Caregiving role overload was positively associated with care recipient CRP concentrations (B = 0.06, β = 0.08, SE = 0.25, p = .02). No significant interaction was observed between caregiving gains or caregiving emotional difficulty in predicting CRP.

Care recipients demonstrated greater CRP concentrations when their caregiver reported higher role overload, regardless of their appraisal of the care context. Efforts to help caregivers delegate tasks or offer respite may reduce overload and have positive impact on care recipients' physiological health.