Is caring associated with an increased risk of mortality? A longitudinal study

Dermot O'Reilly, Sheelah Connolly, Michael Rosato and Chris Patterson

Social Science & Medicine, 2008, vol. 67, issue 8, 1282-1290

Abstract: Informal care is a fundamental component of care in the community which, given current demographic trends and increasing prevalence of debilitating chronic disease, is likely to assume even greater significance in future. Research indicates that caregivers are more likely than non-carers to report poor health, though this has usually been measured in terms of psychological or emotional health such as depression or 'caregiver strain'. Relatively little is known about the effects of caring on physical health. This study examines the health of caregivers recorded in the 2001 Northern Ireland Census and their subsequent mortality over the following four years. Caregivers were a heterogeneous group, with those providing fewer hours of care being relatively more affluent than those providing care at greater intensities. Overall, caregivers had lower mortality risks than non-carers and effects were more pronounced for women, older people, and for those reporting poorer health at the start of the study period. While this study does not exclude the possibility of significant detrimental health effects of caring for some sub-groups of caregivers, it does add support to the growing body of literature which suggests that the positive aspects of caring have been underreported.

Keywords: Northern; Ireland; Carers; Mortality; UK; Informal; care; Gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(08)00331-6
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:67:y:2008:i:8:p:1282-1290

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().