Hajek André, Bock Jens-Oliver, König Hans-Helmut
Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
BMC Public Health. 2017 Sep 29;17(1):755. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4786-6.
While most studies focused solely on the comparison between informal caregivers and non-caregivers, little is known about the relation between caregiving time or caregiving activities and lifestyle factors. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine whether informal caregiving time and type of caregiving activities are associated with body mass index (BMI) and the frequency of sporting activities among informal caregivers.
Cross-sectional data were gathered from the German Ageing Survey, a nationally representative study among community-dwelling individuals aged ≥40 that includes a total of n = 1380 people who provide informal care services. Self-reported BMI and self-reported frequency of sporting activities (daily; several times a week; once a week; 1-3 times a month; less often; never) were used as dependent variables. The average time of providing informal care per week as well as four different caregiving activities (help around the house; looking after someone; performing nursing care services; help in another way) were included as independent variables. Multiple ordinal and linear regressions were used to estimate the association between caregiving factors and the frequency of sporting activities and BMI, respectively.
Among the 1380 informal caregivers, 65% provided help around the house, 83% looked after people, 28% provided nursing care services, and 68% provided any other help. Bivariate analyses showed that sporting activities and BMI differed by status of providing nursing care services, whereas the other three types of informal caregiving were not associated with BMI nor frequency of sporting activities except for the latter and provision of help around the house. Multiple regressions showed that BMI increased with caregiving time and performing nursing care services, whereas it was not associated with the other three caregiving activities. Likewise, the frequency of sporting activities decreased only with caregiving time and performing nursing care services.
The present study revealed that caregiving time and performing nursing care services are associated with a higher BMI and a decreased frequency of sporting activities. As both, a higher BMI and fewer sporting activities are in turn related to various adverse health outcomes, this knowledge should be taken into account when planning informal caregiving.
虽然大多数研究仅专注于非正式照料者与非照料者之间的比较，但对于照料时间或照料活动与生活方式因素之间的关系却知之甚少。因此，本研究的目的是探讨非正式照料时间和照料活动类型是否与非正式照料者的体重指数（BMI）及体育活动频率相关。
横断面数据来自德国老龄化调查，这是一项针对年龄≥40岁的社区居住个体的全国代表性研究，共纳入了n = 1380名提供非正式照料服务的人员。自我报告的BMI和自我报告的体育活动频率（每天；每周几次；每周一次；每月1 - 3次；更少；从不）被用作因变量。每周提供非正式照料的平均时间以及四种不同的照料活动（家务帮助；照顾他人；提供护理服务；其他方式的帮助）被纳入作为自变量。分别使用多元有序回归和线性回归来估计照料因素与体育活动频率及BMI之间的关联。
在1380名非正式照料者中，65%提供家务帮助，83%照顾他人，28%提供护理服务，68%提供其他任何帮助。双变量分析表明，体育活动和BMI因提供护理服务的状况而有所不同，而其他三种类型的非正式照料与BMI及体育活动频率均无关联，不过后者与提供家务帮助有关。多元回归显示，BMI随着照料时间和提供护理服务而增加，但与其他三种照料活动无关。同样，体育活动频率仅随着照料时间和提供护理服务而降低。
本研究表明，照料时间和提供护理服务与较高的BMI及降低的体育活动频率相关。由于较高的BMI和较少的体育活动反过来又与各种不良健康结果相关，因此在规划非正式照料时应考虑到这一情况。
