Angrisani Marco, Reed Nicholas S, Banerjee Joyita, Lee Jinkook
Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Department of Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Alzheimers Dement. 2025 May;21(5):e70266. doi: 10.1002/alz.70266.
As India's population ages, the prevalence of dementia is increasing rapidly, inducing higher need for informal caregivers for a complex population. However, the effects of individuals' cognitive impairment on their caregivers' well-being in India have not been well studied.
We analyzed data from 4196 informants of participants in the Longitudinal Aging Study in India-Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia (LASI-DAD). Informants' caregiving roles and well-being, including stress, mental health, positive affect, and spirituality, were assessed alongside the cognitive function and dementia status of LASI-DAD respondents.
Informants of individuals with cognitive impairment experienced significantly higher stress, poorer mental health, and lower levels of positive affect and spirituality. Greater caregiving responsibility intensified the negative impact on well-being.
These results demonstrate the significant emotional and psychological strain on dementia caregivers in India, underscoring the need for targeted interventions and support structures.
We used a dual data collection approach in LASI-DAD to create a first-of-its-kind linked dataset on care recipients' and caregivers' outcomes, representative of Indian older adults. Using this dataset, we tested whether cognitive impairment in care recipients increased informants' stress and lowers well-being, with greater caregiving responsibility amplifying these effects. Informants of cognitively impaired individuals reported significantly higher stress, poorer mental health, and lower positive affect and spirituality, with stronger effects for those with greater caregiving roles. Non-primary caregivers also experienced well-being declines when assisting a cognitively impaired older adult, likely driven by family disruptions and added household responsibilities for co-residents and logistical challenges and reduced control for those living separately. Our findings highlight the widespread emotional and psychological strain of dementia caregiving in India, emphasizing the need for targeted support and interventions.
随着印度人口老龄化，痴呆症的患病率迅速上升，这使得对复杂人群的非正式照料者的需求增加。然而，在印度，个体认知障碍对其照料者幸福感的影响尚未得到充分研究。
我们分析了来自印度纵向老龄化研究——痴呆症诊断评估（LASI-DAD）的4196名参与者的信息提供者的数据。在评估LASI-DAD受访者的认知功能和痴呆症状况的同时，还评估了信息提供者的照料角色和幸福感，包括压力、心理健康、积极情绪和精神性。
认知障碍个体的信息提供者经历了显著更高的压力、更差的心理健康以及更低水平的积极情绪和精神性。更大的照料责任加剧了对幸福感的负面影响。
这些结果表明印度痴呆症照料者面临着巨大的情感和心理压力，凸显了针对性干预和支持体系的必要性。
我们在LASI-DAD中采用了双重数据收集方法，创建了首个关于受照料者和照料者结果的关联数据集，该数据集代表印度老年人。利用这个数据集，我们测试了受照料者的认知障碍是否会增加信息提供者的压力并降低幸福感，更大的照料责任是否会放大这些影响。认知障碍个体的信息提供者报告的压力显著更高、心理健康更差、积极情绪和精神性更低，对于那些照料角色更大的人影响更强。非主要照料者在协助认知障碍老年人时也经历了幸福感下降，这可能是由家庭关系破裂、共同居住者增加的家务责任以及后勤挑战导致的，对于独居者来说还存在控制权降低的问题。我们的研究结果凸显了印度痴呆症照料中普遍存在的情感和心理压力，强调了针对性支持和干预的必要性。
