caregiver
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Falls among older people with dementia were tied to their care partners’ emotional, physical and economic well-being, but the associations differed based on whether the people lived with their care partner, a new study finds.
The report was published Monday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Data came from the 2015–2017 National Health and Aging Trends Study and the 2017 National Study of Caregiving survey, which included 935 care partners and 567 community-dwelling older people with dementia.
About a third of community-dwelling older people with dementia did not experience falls, whereas 22% were classified as experiencing low fall frequency, 15% had increased fall frequency, 18% had high frequency and 10% had falls less.
More than 54% of care partners lived with the person who had dementia. More than 40% of care partners, regardless of whether they lived together or apart, had a tough time emotionally. Physical challenges were reported by 25% of those living with a care partner and 17% of those not living together; 22% of those living together and 10% of those not living together dealt with financial obstacles.
Among people with dementia who lived with a care partner, high, increased and decreased fall frequency was associated with emotional difficulty.
Increased and decreased fall frequencies were linked with physical difficulties among those who didn’t live together. Those who lived separately from their care partner were more likely to have greater physical hardships when the number of falls increased during the two-year spa, the data revealed.
High fall frequency was significantly linked with financial troubles for care partners living together and separately, whereas decreased fall frequency was only linked with financial hardships if the care partner didn’t live with someone who had dementia.
“Tailored interventions to manage fall risk among older people with dementia and support care partners with different living arrangements are crucial to improving their well-being,” the authors wrote.