Population Research & Outcome Studies, Discipline of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
PLoS One. 2019 Mar 28;14(3):e0208434. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208434. eCollection 2019.
To compare the biomedical health profile and morbidity of adult carers with non-carers.
The North West Adelaide Health Study (NWAHS) is a representative population-based longitudinal biomedical cohort study of 4056 participants aged 18 years and over at Stage One. Informal (unpaid) carers were identified in Stage 3 of the project (2008-2010). Risk factors, chronic medical conditions and biomedical, health and demographic characteristics using self-report and blood measured variables were assessed. Data were collected through clinic visits, telephone interviews and self-completed questionnaires. Risk factors included blood pressure, cholesterol/lipids, body mass index (BMI), smoking and alcohol intake. Chronic medical conditions included cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes, and musculoskeletal conditions. Blood measured variables were routine haematology, biochemistry, Vitamin D, and the inflammatory biomarkers high sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP), Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNFα) and Interleukin-6 (Il-6).
The prevalence of carers aged 40 years and over was 10.7%, n = 191. Carers aged 40 years and over were more likely to assess their health status as fair/poor and report having diabetes, arthritis, anxiety and depression. They also reported insufficient exercise and were found to have higher BMI compared with non-carers. Significant findings from blood measured variables were lower serum Vitamin D and haemoglobin. Male carers had raised diastolic blood pressure, higher blood glucose, lower haemoglobin and albumin levels and slightly elevated levels of the inflammatory biomarkers TNFα and hs-CRP.
This study confirms informal carers had different biomedical profiles to non-carers that included some chronic physical illnesses. It identifies that both female and male carers showed a number of risk factors which need to be considered in future caregiver research, clinical guidelines and policy development regarding carer morbidity.
比较成年照顾者和非照顾者的生物医学健康状况和发病率。
西北阿德莱德健康研究（NWAHS）是一项基于人群的代表性纵向生物医学队列研究，共纳入 4056 名年龄在 18 岁及以上的参与者。在项目的第 3 阶段（2008-2010 年）确定了非正式（无报酬）照顾者。使用自我报告和血液测量变量评估了危险因素、慢性疾病以及生物医学、健康和人口统计学特征。数据通过临床访视、电话访谈和自我完成的问卷收集。危险因素包括血压、胆固醇/脂质、体重指数（BMI）、吸烟和饮酒量。慢性疾病包括心血管和呼吸系统疾病、糖尿病以及肌肉骨骼疾病。血液测量变量包括常规血液学、生物化学、维生素 D 以及炎症生物标志物高敏 C 反应蛋白（hs-CRP）、肿瘤坏死因子α（TNFα）和白细胞介素 6（Il-6）。
40 岁及以上照顾者的患病率为 10.7%，n = 191。40 岁及以上的照顾者更有可能将自己的健康状况评估为一般/较差，并报告患有糖尿病、关节炎、焦虑和抑郁。他们还报告锻炼不足，并且 BMI 高于非照顾者。血液测量变量的显著发现是血清维生素 D 和血红蛋白水平较低。男性照顾者舒张压升高、血糖升高、血红蛋白和白蛋白水平降低以及炎症生物标志物 TNFα和 hs-CRP 水平略有升高。
本研究证实，非正式照顾者的生物医学特征与非照顾者不同，包括一些慢性身体疾病。它表明，男性和女性照顾者都表现出一些需要在未来的照顾者研究、临床指南和政策制定中考虑的危险因素，这些研究和指南涉及照顾者的发病率。
