Understanding the Health Effects of Caregiving Stress: New Directions in Molecular Aging

Dementia caregiving has been linked to multiple health risks, including infectious illness, depression, anxiety, immune dysregulation, weakened vaccine responses, slow wound healing, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, frailty, cognitive decline, and reduced structural and functional integrity of the brain. The sustained overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines is a key pathway behind many of these risks. However, contrasting findings suggest that some forms of caregiving may have beneficial effects, such as maintaining caregivers' health and providing a sense of meaning and purpose which, in turn, may contribute to lower rates of functional decline and mortality. The current review synthesizes these disparate literatures, identifies methodological sources of discrepancy, and integrates caregiver research with work on aging biomarkers to propose a research agenda that traces the mechanistic pathways of caregivers’ health trajectories with a focus on the unique stressors facing spousal caregivers as compared to other informal caregivers. Combined with a focus on psychosocial moderators and mechanisms, studies using state-of-the-art molecular aging biomarkers such as telomere length, p16INK4a, and epigenetic age could help to reconcile mixed literature on caregiving’s sequelae by determining whether and under what conditions caregiving-related experiences contribute to faster aging, in part through inflammatory biology. The biomarkers predict morbidity and mortality, and each contributes non-redundant information about age-related molecular changes –together painting a more complete picture of biological aging. Indeed, assessing changes in these biopsychosocial mechanisms over time would help to clarify the dynamic relationships between caregiving experiences, psychological states, immune function, and aging. •Dementia caregiving is linked with multiple mental, physical, and cognitive health risks•Contrasting findings suggest that some forms of caregiving may have beneficial effects•Longitudinal assessment of molecular aging biomarkers will clarify understanding•Key markers aging biomarkers include telomere length, p16INK4a, and epigenetic age•Key moderators include gender, SES, race/ethnicity, and sexual minority status