OT : Chronic stress can greatly shorten caregivers' lifespans

[Guest guest]

This is interesting as so many of us have decision to make in regards to

aging spouses, parents and others in our family with chronic health issues

that need us.

Judy

Chronic stress can greatly shorten caregivers' lifespans

The chronic stress that spouses and children develop while caring for

Alzheimer's disease patients may shorten the caregivers' lives by as much as

four to eight years, a new study suggests.

 

The research also provides concrete evidence that the effects of chronic

stress can be seen both at the genetic and molecular level in chronic

caregivers' bodies.

 

The findings, reported this month by researchers from Ohio State University

and the federal National Institute of Aging, are published in the Journal of

Immunology.

 

These are the latest results from a nearly three-decade-long program at Ohio

State investigating the links between psychological stress and a weakened

immune status. Previous studies have examined medical students, newlyweds,

divorced spouses, widows, widowers and long-married couples, in each case,

looking for physiological effects caused by psychological stress.

 

In their recent study, Ronald Glaser, a professor of molecular virology,

immunology and medical genetics, and Jan Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of

psychology and psychiatry, teamed with Nan-ping Weng and his research group

from the National Institute of Aging.

 

Earlier work by other researchers had shown that mothers caring for

chronically ill children developed changes in their chromosomes that

effectively amounted to several years of additional aging among those

caregivers.

 

That work looked only at a broad community of immune cells without

identifying the specific immune components responsible for the changes. The

Ohio State-NIA team wanted to identify the exact cells involved in the

changes, as well as the mechanisms that caused them.

 

They focused on telomeres, areas of genetic material on the ends of a cell's

chromosomes. Over time, as a cell divides, those telomeres shorten, losing

genetic instructions. An enzyme - telomerase - normally works to repair that

damage to the chromosome, Glaser said.

 

" Telomeres are like caps on the chromosome, " said Glaser, head of Ohio State

's Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research. " Think of it as a frayed

rope - if the caps weren't there, the rope would unravel. The telomeres

insulate and protect the ends of the chromosomes.

 

" As we get older, the telomeres shorten and the activity of the telomerase

enzyme lessens, " he said. " It's part of the aging process. "

 

For the study, the researchers turned to a population of Alzheimer's disease

caregivers they had worked with before, and compared them with an equal

number of non-caregivers matched for age, gender and other aspects. They

analyzed blood samples from each group, looking for differences in both the

telomeres and the enzyme, as well as populations of immune cells.

 

" Caregivers showed the same kind of patterns present in the study of mothers

of chronically ill kids, " Glaser said, adding that the changes the Ohio

State/NIA team saw amounted to a shortened lifespan of four to eight years.

 

" We believe that the changes in these immune cells represent the whole cell

population in the body, suggesting that all the body's cells have aged that

same amount. "

 

The caregivers also differed dramatically with the control group on

psychological surveys intended to measure depression, a clear cause of

stress.

 

" Those symptoms of depression in caregivers were twice as severe as those

apparent among the control group, " Kiecolt-Glaser said.

 

" Caregivers also had fewer lymphocytes, " Glaser said, " a very important

component of the immune system. They also showed a higher level of

cytokines, molecules key to the inflammation response, than did the control

group. "

 

Other experiments showed that the actual telomeres in blood cells of

caregivers were shorter than those of the controls, and that the level of

the telomerase repair enzyme among caregivers was also lower.

 

Kiecolt-Glaser said that there is ample epidemiological data showing that

stressed caregivers die sooner than people not in that role.

 

" Now we have a good biological reason for why this is the case, " she said.

" We now have a mechanistic progression that shows why, in fact, stress is

bad for you, how it gets into the body and how it gets translated into a bad

biological outcome. "

 

Much of the Ohio State work is now shifting to studies on how to intervene

with that stress in hopes of slowing the weakening of the immune system in

highly stressed people.

 

 

 

Damjanovic AK, Yang Y, Glaser R, et al. Accelerated telomere erosion is

associated with a declining immune function of caregivers of Alzheimer's

disease patients. J Immunol. 2007 Sep 15;179(6):4249-54. [Abstract]

http://www.foxnews.com/bloghealth/?bbPostId=Cz7rxPfjAD3d6B78i8Nh6OXwbBBKZSqZ2TwE\

cB5ZpiwG3cLZI & bbParentWidgetId=B7vTq211WR1v6GHdP9Zdm1e

[Guest guest]

Judy, Thanks for sharing this. I've been caregiver for my MIL for two years

now. My stress levels are always high because of lack of respite. I've decided

not to do this to my child and grandchildren. I'm going to a nursing home! Bev

 

wwjd <jtwigg wrote: This is interesting as so many of

us have decision to make in regards to

aging spouses, parents and others in our family with chronic health issues

that need us.

Judy

Chronic stress can greatly shorten caregivers' lifespans

The chronic stress that spouses and children develop while caring for

Alzheimer's disease patients may shorten the caregivers' lives by as much as

four to eight years, a new study suggests.

 

The research also provides concrete evidence that the effects of chronic

stress can be seen both at the genetic and molecular level in chronic

caregivers' bodies.

 

The findings, reported this month by researchers from Ohio State University

and the federal National Institute of Aging, are published in the Journal of

Immunology.

 

These are the latest results from a nearly three-decade-long program at Ohio

State investigating the links between psychological stress and a weakened

immune status. Previous studies have examined medical students, newlyweds,

divorced spouses, widows, widowers and long-married couples, in each case,

looking for physiological effects caused by psychological stress.

 

In their recent study, Ronald Glaser, a professor of molecular virology,

immunology and medical genetics, and Jan Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of

psychology and psychiatry, teamed with Nan-ping Weng and his research group

from the National Institute of Aging.

 

Earlier work by other researchers had shown that mothers caring for

chronically ill children developed changes in their chromosomes that

effectively amounted to several years of additional aging among those

caregivers.

 

That work looked only at a broad community of immune cells without

identifying the specific immune components responsible for the changes. The

Ohio State-NIA team wanted to identify the exact cells involved in the

changes, as well as the mechanisms that caused them.

 

They focused on telomeres, areas of genetic material on the ends of a cell's

chromosomes. Over time, as a cell divides, those telomeres shorten, losing

genetic instructions. An enzyme - telomerase - normally works to repair that

damage to the chromosome, Glaser said.

 

" Telomeres are like caps on the chromosome, " said Glaser, head of Ohio State

's Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research. " Think of it as a frayed

rope - if the caps weren't there, the rope would unravel. The telomeres

insulate and protect the ends of the chromosomes.

 

" As we get older, the telomeres shorten and the activity of the telomerase

enzyme lessens, " he said. " It's part of the aging process. "

 

For the study, the researchers turned to a population of Alzheimer's disease

caregivers they had worked with before, and compared them with an equal

number of non-caregivers matched for age, gender and other aspects. They

analyzed blood samples from each group, looking for differences in both the

telomeres and the enzyme, as well as populations of immune cells.

 

" Caregivers showed the same kind of patterns present in the study of mothers

of chronically ill kids, " Glaser said, adding that the changes the Ohio

State/NIA team saw amounted to a shortened lifespan of four to eight years.

 

" We believe that the changes in these immune cells represent the whole cell

population in the body, suggesting that all the body's cells have aged that

same amount. "

 

The caregivers also differed dramatically with the control group on

psychological surveys intended to measure depression, a clear cause of

stress.

 

" Those symptoms of depression in caregivers were twice as severe as those

apparent among the control group, " Kiecolt-Glaser said.

 

" Caregivers also had fewer lymphocytes, " Glaser said, " a very important

component of the immune system. They also showed a higher level of

cytokines, molecules key to the inflammation response, than did the control

group. "

 

Other experiments showed that the actual telomeres in blood cells of

caregivers were shorter than those of the controls, and that the level of

the telomerase repair enzyme among caregivers was also lower.

 

Kiecolt-Glaser said that there is ample epidemiological data showing that

stressed caregivers die sooner than people not in that role.

 

" Now we have a good biological reason for why this is the case, " she said.

" We now have a mechanistic progression that shows why, in fact, stress is

bad for you, how it gets into the body and how it gets translated into a bad

biological outcome. "

 

Much of the Ohio State work is now shifting to studies on how to intervene

with that stress in hopes of slowing the weakening of the immune system in

highly stressed people.

 

-------------------------

Damjanovic AK, Yang Y, Glaser R, et al. Accelerated telomere erosion is

associated with a declining immune function of caregivers of Alzheimer's

disease patients. J Immunol. 2007 Sep 15;179(6):4249-54. [Abstract]

http://www.foxnews.com/bloghealth/?bbPostId=Cz7rxPfjAD3d6B78i8Nh6OXwbBBKZSqZ2TwE\

cB5ZpiwG3cLZI & bbParentWidgetId=B7vTq211WR1v6GHdP9Zdm1e

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we come to the edge of the light we know, and are about to step off into

the darkness of the unknown, of this we can be sure ... either God will provide

something solid to stand on or we will be taught to fly. -- Dorothy Ann Mize

 

 

 

 

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