One can consider this as adding injury to an already-difficult situation. A new study in the Journals of Gerontology demonstrates that spouses of those with Alzheimer’s disease are at a greater risk of developing a dementia-related condition. It’s already understood that caring for an Alzheimer’s patient can be debilitating emotionally, and even physically, for obvious reasons. It is enormously demanding work, which is why a professional caretaker is recommended. However, this takes this issue a step further by suggesting that spouses are at an increased risk of developing the same condition as well.
From Time Magazine:
The team of researchers, led by Dr. Maria Norton of Utah State University, followed 1,221 heterosexual married couples (2,442 individuals) ages 65 and older for up to 12 years. None of the participants had been diagnosed with dementia at the onset of the study. During the research period, there were 125 cases in which only the husband developed dementia, 70 in which only the wife was diagnosed, and 30 (60 individuals) in which both spouses eventually developed dementia.
The researchers found that, in addition to advanced age, having a spouse with dementia was significantly correlated with individuals’ increased risk for developing the disease themselves. What’s more, men whose wives were suffering from dementia were at an increased risk for a dementia diagnosis themselves, compared with women whose husbands had been diagnosed with the condition.
At first glance, this seems impossible. Dementia-related conditions like Alzheimer’s are often based on heredity, so one would surmise that caring for an Alzheimer’s patient would have to change a person on a genetic level. However, there’s no reason to make such a stretch as that. As we have stressed on the blog in recent posts, a healthy body is enormously important for maintaining a healthy brain. As alluded to above, caring for an Alzheimer’s patient can be physically draining. In that respect, it should maybe come as no surprise that spouses show a greater occurrence of developing the disease.
At the same time, overall physical health can lead to other health problems as well – such as hypertension. Why would a spouse develop a similar mental condition? For one thing, that was the purpose of the study: to see the correlation with dementia specifically, so additional research would have to be done to determine how cases of dementia compare with the development of other debilitating diseases. Additionally, how did diet, overall health, environment, frequency of exercise, and the like contribute to those cases with a higher rate of dementia? In short, there are more influences on developing Alzheimer’s than just proximity to the patient.
It does, however, cause one to speculate about the “bond” of marriage, and the fact that seeing one’s spouse suffering from a certain malady could have an influence on the healthier partner. A certain amount of empathy could be contributing to the nature of the illness. Of course, that is speculation and for pure science it is important to weigh the findings of the study, which shows that the physical and emotional toll can lead to a specific illness. As mentioned, it is recommended that family members hire some sort of professional help – this study makes more clear just why this is necessary.
This is not the first study measuring the impact of illness on a spouse’s health. Another study, from 1994 led by Morton A. Lieberman, PhD and Lawrence Fisher, PhD called The Impact of Chronic Illness on the Health and Well-Being of Family Members concludes:
The relationship between severity of illness and spouse health was lower under conditions of high service utilization than under conditions of low service utilization.
In other words, those who had help caring for a sick family member showed less signs of physical distress. The results of the first study are so startling that gauging the long-term effects on professional caregivers themselves is not totally out of the question – do caregivers run a greater risk of developing dementia-related conditions? At least these caregivers will have professional training and not be as emotionally attached to the patient – these two issues would suggest why caring for an Alzheimer’s sufferer is so debilitating on both the immediate caregiver and extended family and friends.
If hiring a professional nurse is not feasible, there are a few things that family members can do. Delegating responsibility to different family members is a good idea, so as to not make one person shoulder the entire burden. Also, working with a psychologist of some kind is a good idea to help ease the emotional burden, which can have real and lasting physical implications.
