Daughters' Stress at Caring for Elderly.

Daughters serving as the primary caregivers for an ailing parent show more cardiovascular stress than do wives caring for their ailing husbands, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine. Compared with wives, daughters caring for a relative with dementia in their own homes experienced measurably greater increases in heart rate and blood pressure during interactions with the ailing relative. No such differences turned up during moments when the relative was absent.

"This is the first evidence of differential physiologic effects of caregiving in the natural environment for daughters vs. wives," notes the study's principal investigator, Abby King, an assistant professor of health research and policy with the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention. She speculates that daughters may carry a heavier burden as caregivers because they tend to be younger, with independent lives, and may not have bargained for life as a caretaker. "In general, it may be more of an imposition for a younger person who hasn't planned or bargained for that, as opposed to a wife, who has chosen to marry someone and may be more accepting of that person's illness."

The study involved 81 women between the ages of 50 and 85 caring at home for a parent or spouse with dementia resulting from Alzheimer's disease, stroke, or Parkinson's disease. Fifty-seven percent were wives caring for husbands. The rest were daughters looking after a...