Major mental disorders among family caregivers: a nation-wide register-based study

Evidence of (informal) family caregivers' probability for major mental disorders remains limited. This study aimed to examine the association between high-intensity informal caregiving and major mental disorders using register-based data.

This study included all recipients of the family caregiver's allowance in Finland in 2012 (n = 42,256) and matched controls (n = 83,618). Information on diagnoses of mental disorders treated in hospitals or specialized healthcare settings was obtained from the National Care Register for the period 2012-2017.

Overall, 5036 (11.9%) caregivers received at least one diagnosis of a major mental disorder. Caregivers exhibited a lower likelihood of major mental disorders compared to controls; however, from youth to age 70, caregivers were more likely to experience a major mental disorder compared with controls. Caregivers had a higher incidence rate ratio (IRR) for major psychiatric conditions, particularly depressive and mood disorders (IRR 1.33, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.26-1.41) and anxiety-related disorders (IRR 1.37, 95% CI 1.29-1.46). Male caregivers had a higher IRR of mental and behavioral disorders related to psychoactive substance use compared with female caregivers (IRR 3.04, 95% CI 2.66-3.47). By contrast, male caregivers had a lower IRR of depressive and mood disorders than female caregivers (IRR 0.74, 95% CI 0.66-0.82).

This study enhances our understanding of family caregivers' likelihood for specific mental disorders. Improved knowledge of these probabilities may facilitate the development of proactive strategies to protect caregivers' mental health and coping capacity before clinically significant problems emerge.