Newswise — Caring for a partner or spouse with a new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or related dementia is associated with a 30% increase in depressive symptoms, compared to older adults who don’t have a spouse with dementia—and these symptoms are sustained over time, a new University of Michigan study found.
This sustained depression over time is important because partners are often caregivers for many years, said Melissa Harris, a doctoral student in the U-M School of Nursing and the study’s lead author.
Research suggests that depression can spike after a traumatic event––cancer diagnosis, accident, death, etc.––but that most people often return to their previous emotional health. That didn’t happen with the dementia caregivers.
Harris and U-M nursing professors Geoffrey Hoffman and Marita Titler analyzed Health and Retirement Study data from 16,650 older…
