Caregiving to children and grandchildren and risk of coronary heart disease in women.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the relationship between burden of providing care to non-ill children and grandchildren and incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) among women.


METHODS
A prospective cohort study was conducted as part of the Nurses' Health Study among 54,412 women aged 46 to 71 years who were registered nurses. Women answered questions about their child care responsibilities.


RESULTS
We documented 321 incident cases of CHD during 4 years of follow-up. Multivariate analyses showed that caring for non-ill children 21 hours or more per week and caring for non-ill grandchildren 9 hours or more per week (vs no caregiving) were associated with an increased risk of CHD (relative risks were 1.59 and 1.55, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
High levels of care provision to grandchildren (and possibly children) may increase the risk of CHD among women.
Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Sunmin
S
Lee
Graham
G
Colditz
Lisa
L
Berkman
Ichiro
I
Kawachi
D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology