Roles of age and sources of cancer caregiving stress in self-reported health and neuroendocrine biomarkers.

To investigate the extent to which age and specific sources of caregiving stress are associated with cancer caregivers' health. New colorectal cancer caregivers ( = 88; age  = 49) reported caregiving stress (i.e., disrupted schedule, lacking family support, financial strain) and mental and physical health, and collected saliva samples assayed for neuroendocrine biomarkers (cortisol and α-amylase). Disrupted daily schedule due to caregiving was associated with poorer self-reported mental health across all ages (4.19, 95% CI: -6.59--1.80, <.01), and associated with dysregulated cortisol patterns among older caregivers, but with more regulated cortisol patterns among younger caregivers, s ≤ .01. Across all ages, lacking family support was associated with poorer self-reported physical health (= -2.13, 95% CI: -4.33--0.07, <.05), but more regulated α-amylase patterns ( 2.51, 95% CI: 0.83-4.19, <.01). Financial strain related to regulated cortisol levels only among older caregivers ( = 5.07, 95% CI: 0.58-9.57, = .03) and more regulated α-amylase patterns across all ages (25.81, 95% CI: -48.72--2.90, <.05). Findings suggest that specific sources of caregiver stress manifest in health outcomes distinctly by age, and support the need for targeted psychosocial interventions for cancer caregivers.