Economic Burden of Informal Caregiving Associated With History of Stroke and Falls Among Older Adults in the U.S.

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Prev Med
• Personal Author:
  Joo, Heesoo ; Wang, Guijing ; Yee, Sue Lin ; Zhang, Ping ; Sleet, David
• Description:
  Introduction ; Older adults are at high risk for stroke and falls, both of which require a large amount of informal caregiving. However, the economic burden of informal caregiving associated with stroke and fall history is not well known. ; Methods ; Using the 2010 Health and Retirement Study, data on non-institutionalized adults aged ≥65 years (N=10,129) in 2015–2017 were analyzed. Two-part models were used to estimate informal caregiving hours. Based on estimates from the models using a replacement cost approach, the authors derived informal caregiving hours and costs associated with falls in the past 2 years for stroke and non-stroke persons. ; Results ; Both the prevalence of falls overall and of falls with injuries were higher among people with stroke than those without (49.5% vs 35.1% for falls and 16.0% vs 10.3% for injurious falls, p<0.01). Stroke survivors needed more informal caregiving hours than their non-stroke counterparts, and the number of informal caregiving hours was positively associated with non-injurious falls and even more so with injurious falls. The national burden of informal caregiving (2015 U.S. dollars) associated with injurious falls amounted to $2.9 billion (95% CI=$1.1 billion, $4.7 billion) for stroke survivors (about 0.5 million people), and $6.5 billion (95% CI=$4.3 billion, $8.7 billion) for those who never had a stroke (about 3.6 million people). ; Conclusions ; In U.S. older adults, informal caregiving hours and costs associated with falls are substantial, especially for stroke survivors. Preventing falls and fall-related injuries, especially among stroke survivors, therefore has potential for reducing the burden of informal caregiving.
• Keywords:
  • Accidental Falls
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Caregivers
  • Cost of Illness
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Informal Sector
  • Longitudinal Studies
  More +
• Source:
  Am J Prev Med. 53(6 Suppl 2):S197-S204
• Pubmed ID:
  29153121
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5819006
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U36 OE000005/OE/OSELS CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  53
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/52031/cdc_52031_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 192.36 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:d9d452038b2af392a5c0d93eca385031dd0d8035204dc3320290e77d5a69d845