PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Mariam Kirvalidze AU - Giorgi Beridze AU - Anders Wimo AU - Lucas Morin AU - Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga TI - Variability in perceived burden and health trajectories among older caregivers: a population-based study in Sweden AID - 10.1136/jech-2022-219095 DP - 2023 Feb 01 TA - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health PG - 125--132 VI - 77 IP - 2 4099 - http://jech.bmj.com/content/77/2/125.short 4100 - http://jech.bmj.com/content/77/2/125.full SO - J Epidemiol Community Health2023 Feb 01; 77 AB - Background The negative effects of informal caregiving are determined by the characteristics of the caregiver-care receiver dyad and the context of care. In this study, we aimed to identify which subgroups of older informal caregivers (1) experience the greatest subjective burden and (2) incur a faster decline in objective health status.Methods From a total of 3363 older participants in the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K), we identified 629 informal caregivers (19.2%, mean age 69.9 years). Limitations to life and perceived burden were self-reported, and objective health status was quantified using the comprehensive clinical and functional Health Assessment Tool (HAT) score (range: 0–10). Ordered logistic regressions and linear mixed models were used to estimate the associations between caregiving-related exposures and subjective outcomes (cross-sectionally) and objective health trajectories (over 12 years), respectively.Results Having a dual role (providing and receiving care simultaneously), caring for a spouse, living in the same household as the care receiver and spending more hours on caregiving were associated with more limitations and burden. In addition, having a dual role (β=−0.12, 95% CI −0.23 to −0.02) and caring for a spouse (β=−0.08, 95% CI −0.14 to −0.02) were associated with a faster HAT score decline. Being female and having a poor social network were associated with an exacerbation of the health decline.Conclusions Both the heterogeneity among caregivers and the related contextual factors should be accounted for by policymakers as well as in future research investigating the health impact of informal caregiving.Data are available upon reasonable request. Access to SNAC-K data is available to researchers with approval from the SNAC-K data management and maintenance committee. Applications for accessing SNAC-K data can be submitted to Maria Wahlberg (maria.wahlberg@ki.se) at the Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet.