title: Informal caregiving and self-reported mental and physical health: results from the Gazel Cohort Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated whether, and under what conditions, informal caregiving is associated with improved self-reported physical and mental health, most notably in terms of cognitive functioning.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 2008 data from the Gazel Cohort Study, which involved 10 687 men and women aged 54 to 70 years. Multivariate linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between self-reported health and caregiving status and burden.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regular caregivers with the highest burden scores reported significantly worse health status than did noncaregivers for almost all of the physical and mental outcomes evaluated after adjustment for potential confounding factors. In particular, they reported more cognitive complaints (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.21, 1.73). Conversely, caregivers with the lowest burden scores reported better perceived health status, less physical and mental tiredness, and fewer depressive symptoms (OR = 0.50; 95% CI = 0.37, 0.68) than did noncaregivers; however, they did not report decreases in cognitive difficulties (OR = 0.98; 95% CI = 0.81, 1.18).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support the hypothesis that caregiving can have positive effects on health, provided that caregiving activities themselves are not too heavy a burden.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Santé Environnement Vieillissement EA2506, Centre de Gérontologie, Université Versailles St-Quentin, Paris, France. jean-francois.buyck@spr.aphp.fr
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Buyck
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bonnaud
authors.forename: Ariane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boumendil
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andrieu
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bonenfant
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zins
authors.forename: Joël
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ankri
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D057566:Self Report