“Dementia patients may die sooner if family caregivers are mentally stressed,” by Yasmin Anwar, Berkeley News

“From 2007 until 2016, UC Berkeley researchers tracked the mortality of 176 patients with neurodegenerative diseases that are corrosive to brain function. They also measured the mental health of the family members who took care of them. Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, indicate that patients tended by caregivers with depression, anxiety and other symptoms of mental illness typically died sooner than those being looked after by caregivers in good mental health. For example, compared to patients who were cared for by relatives in fairly good mental health, patients tended by family members in poor mental health died, on average, about 14 months sooner.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):
All the more reason to reduce caregivers’ mental stress with the financial wherewithal (through LTCI) to obtain professional help and respite care.

Dementia patients may die sooner if family caregivers are mentally stressed

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#dementia