Association between chronic illnesses in older adults and caregiver burden: a cross sectional study in the United States.

Objectives: Caregiver burden is a growing social issue with an increase in the number of older adults with chronic illnesses. We analyzed the association between chronic illnesses among older adults and caregiver burden in financial, emotional, and physical domains, adjusting for caregiver and older adult characteristics.

Method: We used secondary data from the 2022 National Health and Aging Trends Study and the 2022 National Study of Caregiving. Logistic regression analyses was used to assess associations between nine illnesses and each caregiver burden in 1,419 participants.

Results: Dementia was significantly associated with caregiver burden related to emotional difficulty (odds ratio [OR] = 2.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.34-3.09) and physical difficulty (OR = 1.67, 95% CI, 1.01-2.78), but not financial difficulty. Furthermore, relationship with older adults, positive and negative self-esteem, the number of assistive activities of caregivers, and gender and physical capacity of older adults were significantly associated with caregiver burden.

Conclusion: These findings clarify the definition of caregiver burden and provide integrated results on caregiver burden in chronic illnesses and the characteristics of caregivers and older adults.