title: Differences in physical health, and health behaviors between family caregivers of children with and without disabilities.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Providing care for children with disabilities can negatively influence the physical health and health behaviors of family caregivers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study purposes were to compare the prevalence of chronic conditions and health risk behaviors of family caregivers of children with and without disabilities and to examine associations between disability status of children and family caregivers' chronic conditions and health risk behaviors.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study compared chronic conditions and health risk behaviors across adult family caregivers of children with a disability (FCG-D) and family caregivers of children without a disability (FCG) living in a U.S. household using 2015 National Health Interview Survey data. Health risk behaviors were defined as heavy drinking, current smoking, physical inactivity, and unhealthy sleep. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to compare chronic conditions and health risk behaviors between FCG-D and FCG with adjustments for demographic and healthcare coverage covariates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FCG-D showed significantly greater likelihoods of chronic conditions (e.g., asthma, back pain, chronic bronchitis, heart conditions, migraine, and obesity) than FCG. FCG-D also exhibited significantly more smoking and unhealthy sleep.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family caregivers of children with a disability reported significantly greater likelihoods of various chronic conditions and were more likely to engage in health risk behaviors (smoking and unhealthy sleep). Further study is needed to develop intervention programs for encouraging effective health-promoting behaviors among family caregivers of children with a disability as well as health policies for decreasing health disparities experienced by this population.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 S. Damen Ave Chicago, IL 60612, USA. Electronic address: leemeenhye@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Meen Hye
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 S. Damen Ave Chicago, IL 60612, USA. Electronic address: parkcg@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 S. Damen Ave Chicago, IL 60612, USA. Electronic address: aliciak@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Alicia K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.affiliation: Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1640 W Roosevelt Rd, Chicago, IL 60608, USA. Electronic address: hsieh@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hsieh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D005190:Family; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012890:Sleep; D012907:Smoking; D014481:United States
keywords: Children with disabilities; Family caregiver; Health risk behaviors; Physical health