Higher inflammation has been linked to poor physical and mental health outcomes, and mortality, but few studies have rigorously examined whether changes in perceived stress and depressive symptoms are associated with increased inflammation within family caregivers and non-caregivers in a longitudinal design.

Longitudinal Study.

REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke cohort study.

Participants included 239 individuals who were not caregivers at baseline but transitioned to providing substantial and sustained caregiving over time. They were initially matched to 241 non-caregiver comparisons on age, sex, race, education, marital status, self-rated health, and history of cardiovascular disease. Blood was drawn at baseline and approximately 9.3 years at follow-up for both groups.

Perceived Stress Scale, Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression, inflammatory biomarkers, including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, D dimer, tumor necrosis factor alpha receptor 1, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-6, and IL-10 taken at baseline and follow-up.

Although at follow-up, caregivers showed significantly greater worsening in perceived stress and depressive symptoms compared to non-caregivers, there were few significant associations between depressive symptoms or perceived stress on inflammation for either group. Inflammation, however, was associated with multiple demographic and health variables, including age, race, obesity, and use of medications for hypertension and diabetes for caregivers and non-caregivers.

These findings illustrate the complexity of studying the associations between stress, depressive symptoms, and inflammation in older adults, where these associations may depend on demographic, disease, and medication effects. Future studies should examine whether resilience factors may prevent increased inflammation in older caregivers.

较高的炎症与较差的身心健康结果和死亡率有关，但很少有研究在纵向设计中严格检验感知压力和抑郁症状的变化是否与家庭照顾者和非照顾者的炎症增加有关。

纵向研究。

中风队列研究中地理和种族差异的原因。

参与者包括 239 名个人，他们在基线时不是护理人员，但随着时间的推移逐渐转变为提供大量和持续的护理。最初，他们与 241 名非看护者进行了匹配，这些人的年龄、性别、种族、教育程度、婚姻状况、自评健康状况和心血管疾病史。两组均在基线时和随访约 9.3 年时抽取血液。

流行病学研究中心抑郁症感知压力量表、炎症生物标志物，包括高敏 C 反应蛋白、D 二聚体、肿瘤坏死因子 α 受体 1、白细胞介素 (IL)-2、IL-6 和 IL-10，采集于基线和后续行动。

尽管在随访中，与非照顾者相比，照顾者的感知压力和抑郁症状明显恶化，但两组的抑郁症状或感知压力与炎症之间几乎没有显着关联。然而，炎症与多种人口和健康变量相关，包括年龄、种族、肥胖以及护理人员和非护理人员使用高血压和糖尿病药物。

这些发现说明了研究老年人压力、抑郁症状和炎症之间关联的复杂性，这些关联可能取决于人口、疾病和药物效应。未来的研究应该探讨弹性因素是否可以预防老年护理人员炎症的增加。