title: Biomarkers of Resilience in Stress Reduction for Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients.
abstract: Caregiving for a dementia patient is associated with increased risk of psychological and physical health problems. We investigated whether a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training course for caregivers that closely models the MBSR curriculum originally established by the Center of Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts may improve the psychological resilience of non-professional caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients. Twenty adult non-professional caregivers of dementia patients participated in an 8-week MBSR training course. Caregiver stress, depression, burden, grief, and gene expression profiles of blood mononuclear cells were assessed at baseline and following MBSR. MBSR training significantly improved the psychological resilience of some of the caregivers. We identified predictive biomarkers whose expression is associated with the likelihood of caregivers to benefit from MBSR, and biomarkers whose expression is associated with MBSR psychological benefits. Our biomarker studies provide insight into the mechanisms of health benefits of MBSR and a basis for developing a personalized medicine approach for applying MBSR for promoting psychological and cognitive resilience in caregivers of dementia patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1468 Madison Avenue, Annenberg Building, Room 20-02, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Lap
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Bloom
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Joan G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Vega
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1468 Madison Avenue, Annenberg Building, Room 20-02, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Shrishailam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yemul
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1468 Madison Avenue, Annenberg Building, Room 20-02, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1468 Madison Avenue, Annenberg Building, Room 20-02, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Libby
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.affiliation: Genome Explorations, Inc., Memphis, TN, 38105, USA.
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.affiliation: Genome Explorations, Inc., Memphis, TN, 38105, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rooney
authors.affiliation: Genome Explorations, Inc., Memphis, TN, 38105, USA.
authors.forename: Divyen H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1468 Madison Avenue, Annenberg Building, Room 20-02, New York, NY, 10029, USA. Giulio.Pasinetti@mssm.edu.|Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, NY, 10468, USA. Giulio.Pasinetti@mssm.edu.
authors.forename: Giulio Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Pasinetti
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D064866:Mindfulness / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Dementia; Depression; Emotional distress; Family caregiver; Mindfulness-based stress reduction