Characteristics of the study population and outcomes distribution
| SNAC-K wave 1* 2001–2004 | SNAC-K wave 3 2007–2010 | SNAC-K wave 5 2013–2016 | |
| n=629 out of 3285 (19.2%) | n=573 out of 2012 (28.5%) | n=181 out of 1272 (14.2%) | |
| Age, mean (SD) | 69.9 (8.5) | 72.2 (6.7) | 77.4 (5.8) |
| Sex, women (%) | 415 (66.0%) | 375 (65.4%) | 112 (61.9%) |
| Education (%) | |||
| Elementary | 71 (11.3%) | 42 (7.3%) | 12 (6.6%) |
| High school | 303 (48.2%) | 240 (41.9%) | 91 (50.3%) |
| University | 255 (40.5%) | 291 (50.8%) | 78 (43.1%) |
| Dual role (%) | 40 (6.4%) | 50 (8.7%) | 12 (6.6%) |
| Caring for spouse (%) | 75 (11.9%) | 82 (14.3%) | 84 (46.4%) |
| Living in same household (%) | 85 (13.5%) | 80 (14.0%) | 75 (41.4%) |
| Hours of care per month (%) | |||
| 0 | 38 (7.0%) | 82 (16.0%) | 9 (5.9%) |
| 1–30 | 353 (64.7%) | 276 (53.9%) | 106 (69.7%) |
| 30+ | 155 (28.4%) | 154 (30.1%) | 37 (24.3%) |
| Limitations to life† (%) | |||
| None | 414 (71.6%) | 418 (74.4%) | 107 (60.1%) |
| Slight | 87 (15.1%) | 78 (13.9%) | 35 (19.7%) |
| Moderate | 52 (9.0%) | 39 (6.9%) | 21 (11.8%) |
| Great | 25 (4.3%) | 27 (4.8%) | 15 (8.4%) |
| Perceived burden‡ (%) | |||
| Never | 417 (72.4%) | 440 (79.3%) | 98 (57.3%) |
| Rarely | 41 (7.1%) | 47 (8.5%) | 27 (15.8%) |
| Sometimes | 70 (12.2%) | 28 (5.0%) | 28 (16.4%) |
| Quite often | 25 (4.3%) | 25 (4.5%) | 15 (8.8%) |
| Almost always | 23 (4.0%) | 15 (2.7%) | 3 (1.8%) |
| HAT score, mean (SD) | 8.3 (1.2) | 7.5 (1.4) | 7.5 (1.2) |
Missing at baseline (wave 1): hours of care per month=84, limitations to life=51, perceived burden=53, HAT=19. Missing in wave 3: hours of care per month=61, limitations to life=11, perceived burden=18, HAT=13. Missing in wave 5: hours of care per month=29, limitations to life=3, perceived burden=10, HAT=3.
*Wave 1 constitutes the longitudinal sample within our study (see figure 1).
†Refers to the question from the nurse interview on the magnitude of perceived limitations to life, caused by caregiver activities.
‡Refers to the question from the nurse interview on the frequency of perceived burden of caregiving.
HAT, Health Assessment Tool;SNACK-K, Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen;