POSITIVE ASPECTS OF CAREGIVING AND LOWER RISK OF FRAILTY AND SLEEP DISRUPTION IN THE NATIONAL STUDY OF CAREGIVING

Older adult caregivers have compounded risk for adverse health outcomes; however, evidence investigating the association between the spectrum of the caregiving experience and frailty has been limited. In the National Study of Caregiving, we examined the cross-sectional association between caregiving experiences and both frailty and sleep disruption outcomes among caregivers. We included 621 caregivers aged 65+ who completed a phone interview, including 36 items about caregiving. Using principal component analysis, we identified three caregiving components: general burden, financial burden, and positive emotions. Frailty was assessed via low energy, shrinking, weakness, reduced activity, and poor self-rated health. Sleep disruption was assessed with two questions regarding sleep interruption and trouble falling back asleep. In age- and sex-adjusted ordinal regression models, general burden was associated with frailty (OLO=1.21, 95% CI 1.12, 1.30) and trouble falling back asleep (OLO=1.08, 95% CI 1.00, 1.17); financial burden (OLO=1.15, 95% CI 1.02, 1.31) was associated with frailty. General (OLO=1.99, 95% CI 1.38, 2.88) and financial (OLO=1.98, 95% CI 1.25, 3.14) burden were associated with sleep interruption in the fully adjusted model. Positive emotions were associated with lower odds of both frailty (OLO=0.86, 95% CI 0.74, 0.99) and sleep interruption (OLO=0.75, 95% CI 0.58, 0.98). Caregiver burden was associated with greater risk of frailty in age- and sex- adjusted models and sleep interruption when further accounting for sociodemographic and health factors. Positive emotions of caregiving were associated with decreased risk of these outcomes.