A study led by LTSS Center Research Associate Molly Wylie found that chronic illness negatively impacts the physical and financial health of older caregivers.
Researchers at the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston, the UMass Boston Department of Gerontology, and the National Council on Aging (NCOA) recently conducted a national-level study of adults 60 years of age and older to assess the costs of chronic illness among older caregivers and non-caregivers. The findings will soon be published in The Gerontologist.
LTSS Center Research Associate Molly Wylie and co-authors Jane Tavares, Susan Silberman, Kerry Glova, Maryssa Palis, and Marc Cohen studied the direct costs associated with treating chronic illness and the indirect costs related to lost wages.
Wylie participated in the research as the inaugural Equity in Aging Research Fellow at NCOA. NCOA and the LTSS Center established the one-year graduate research position in 2022. The fellowship supports both organizations’ priorities in advancing research on financial and health security and equity in the aging population.
BACKGROUND
Chronic diseases—including heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic lung disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease—are costly to older adults and the healthcare system, according to the article. Individuals living with chronic diseases face expenses related to treating their illness and losing wages from missed work. In addition, older adults providing care to a loved one may face even higher costs as they experience physical, emotional, and financial stress.
The authors underscore the importance of studying older caregivers’ physical and financial health, given that over half of all caregivers providing support to middle-aged and older adults are 50 and older. Direct and indirect costs of chronic conditions—called the “health cost burden”—may become exceptionally high among these older caregivers as they experience adverse physical health outcomes and job barriers such as lost work time, productivity impairment, reduced career opportunities, and lower Social Security and retirement benefits.
STUDY FINDINGS
During their study, researchers quantified the total health cost burden of older adults, gauged the differences between the health cost burden of older adults and caregivers over age 60, and tracked changes in their health cost burden over four years.
They found that, at baseline, older caregivers had fewer chronic conditions and experienced a lower health cost burden than their non-caregiver peers. Over the four years, however, the costs of treatments and lost wages increased for caregivers, who experienced average increases of about:
- $4,500 for direct treatment costs, compared to $2,300 for non-caregivers.
- $4,500 for indirect lost wage costs, compared to $1,400 for non-caregivers.
- $9,300 for total costs, compared to $3,600 for non-caregivers.
CONCLUSIONS
Study findings suggest that older caregivers may have had the lowest health cost burden at baseline because they were the healthiest individuals available to take on active caregiving roles. Yet, over time, those caregiving roles became detrimental to caregivers’ physical health and led to an increased health cost burden.
The authors conclude that providers, researchers, and policymakers should consider the direct and indirect costs of specific illnesses when attempting to improve the health and well-being of older caregivers and reduce their health-related costs.