Alzheimer's Caregivers At Risk For Disease
The stress
of caring for an Alzheimer's patient at home can prematurely age the immune
system of the caregivers.
This study,
published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focused
on the health of older caregivers, but the findings also might apply to
some of the 20 million caregivers and family members of Alzheimer's patients.
The study suggests
caregivers under the most stress run the risk of getting sick themselves
with illnesses like heart disease or cancer.
"Caregivers
are often called the second victims of Alzheimer's," the lead author
of the study, Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, of Ohio State University, told USA
Today.
The researchers
took blood samples from the recruits and measured the levels of a naturally
produced immune chemical called interleukin-6.
Caregivers,
who were about 70 at the time of the study, had IL-6 levels that looked
like those of the average 90-year-old.
--
Copyright 2003 by United
Press International.
All rights reserved.
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