Medical Comorbidities of Dementia: Links to Caregivers' Emotional Difficulties and Gains
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate how eight major medical comorbidities of dementia (arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, lung disease, osteoporosis, and stroke) are associated with caregivers' perceptions of emotional caregiving difficulties and caregiving gains (ie, benefits or rewards from the care role). DESIGN: Nationally representative cross‐sectional surveys of community‐dwelling persons living with dementia (PLWDs) and their co‐resident family caregivers in the United States. SETTING: The 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study and National Study of Caregiving. PARTICIPANTS: Total of 356 co‐resident family caregivers of community‐dwelling PLWDs. MEASUREMENTS: Caregivers' sociodemographic and health characteristics, caregiving stressors, emotional caregiving difficulties, caregiving gains, and chronic health conditions of PLWDs. RESULTS: Caregivers most commonly cared for a PLWD with arthritis (65.5%), followed by hypertension (64.9%), diabetes (30.1%), stroke (28.8%), osteoporosis (27.1%), heart disease (23.3%), cancer (21.5%), and lung disease (17.2%). Logistic regressions revealed that caregivers were 2.63 and 2.32 times more likely to report higher than median emotional caregiving difficulties when PLWDs had diagnoses of diabetes and osteoporosis, respectively, controlling for caregiver sex, relationship to the PLWD (spouse vs non‐spouse), educational attainment, self‐rated health, and assistance with activities of daily living and medical care activities. Caregivers were also 2.10 times more likely to report lower than median caregiving gains when PLWDs had a diagnosis of osteoporosis. CONCLUSION: Comorbid health conditions among PLWDs have distinct implications for caregiving outcomes. Clinical care and interventions to improve the well‐being of both care dyad members should support caregivers in managing medical comorbidities of dementia. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:609–613, 2020
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Caregivers of people with dementia who had a diagnosis of diabetes or osteoporosis were 2.6 and 2.3 times more likely, respectively, to report emotional difficulties with care compared with caregivers of people with dementia who did not have these co-occurring conditions.
“a national study found that caregivers of people with dementia who had a diagnosis of diabetes or osteoporosis were 2.6 and 2.3 times more likely, respectively, to report emotional difficulties with care compared with caregivers of people with dementia who did not have these co‐occurring conditions. 525”
From 2024 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures (2024) · cites this paper as [525]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Pinquart, M., & Sörensen, S. (2003) · The Journals of Gerontology: Series B · doi:10.1093/geronb/58.2.p112 · Cited by 1,108 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Stress process models hold that dementia caregiving can be stressful and lead to greater emotional caregiving difficulties and lower caregiving gains.(8) Most studies have focused on PLWDs’ difficulty with activities of daily living (ADLs; eg, bathing, dressing) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs; eg,…”
BackgroundValidity and reliability of the AD8 informant interview in dementia
Galvin, J. E., Roe, C. M., Xiong, C., & Morris, J. C. (2006) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000247042.15547.eb · Cited by 495 · see citing works
Deckers, K., Schievink, S. H. J., Rodriquez, M. M. F., van Oostenbrugge, R. J., van Boxtel, M. P. J., Verhey, F. R. J., & Köhler, S. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0184244 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
Osteoporosis and the burden of osteoporosis-related fractures.
Dempster, D. W. (2011) · PubMed · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Hospitalization in Community‐Dwelling Persons with Alzheimer's Disease: Frequency and Causes
Rudolph, J. L., Zanin, N. M., Jones, R. N., Marcantonio, E. R., Fong, T. G., Yang, F. M., Yap, L., & Inouye, S. K. (2010) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.02924.x · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Clague, F., Mercer, S. W., McLean, G., Reynish, E. L., & Guthrie, B. (2016) · Age and Ageing · doi:10.1093/ageing/afw176 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
Healthcare costs and utilization for Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer's
Zhao, Y., Kuo, T.-C., Weir, S., Kramer, M. S., & Ash, A. S. (2008) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/1472-6963-8-108 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Shuid, A. N., Khaithir, T. M. N., Mokhtar, S. A., & Mohamed, I. N. (2014) · Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management · doi:10.2147/tcrm.s72456 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
Lin, P., Fillit, H. M., Cohen, J. T., & Neumann, P. J. (2013) · Alzheimer's & Dementia · doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2012.11.002 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Cognitive Change in Heart Failure
Hajduk, A. M., Kiefe, C. I., Person, S. D., Gore, J. M., & Saczynski, J. S. (2013) · Circulation Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes · doi:10.1161/circoutcomes.113.000121 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Care and outcomes in patients with ischemic stroke with and without preexisting dementia
Saposnik, G., Côté, R., Rochon, P. A., Mamdani, M., Liu, Y., Raptis, S., Kapral, M. K., & Black, S. E. (2011) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.0b013e31823648f1 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Diabetes, Dementia and Hypoglycemia
Meneilly, G. S., & Tessier, D. (2016) · Canadian Journal of Diabetes · doi:10.1016/j.jcjd.2015.09.006 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Association Between Bone Mineral Density and Cognitive Decline in Older Women
Yaffe, K. S., Browner, W. S., Cauley, J. A., Launer, L. J., & Harris, T. B. (1999) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1999.tb05196.x · Cited by 96 · see citing works
The influence of multimorbidity on clinical progression of dementia in a population-based cohort
Melis, R. J. F., Marengoni, A., Rizzuto, D., Teerenstra, S., Kivipelto, M., Angleman, S. B., & Fratiglioni, L. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084014 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Maidment, I. D., Aston, L., Moutela, T., Fox, C., & Hilton, A. (2017) · Health Expectations · doi:10.1111/hex.12534 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Bone Loss Predicts Subsequent Cognitive Decline in Older Women: The Study of Osteoporotic Fractures
Lui, L., Stone, K. L., Cauley, J. A., Hillier, T. A., & Yaffe, K. S. (2003) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1034/j.1601-5215.2002.51007.x · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Medication management: The perspectives of people with dementia and family carers
While, C., Duane, F. M., Beanland, C., & Koch, S. H. (2012) · Dementia · doi:10.1177/1471301212444056 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Andersen, F., Viitanen, M. H., Halvorsen, D. S., Straume, B., & Engstad, T. A. (2011) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/1471-2318-11-58 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Abdelhafiz, A. H., McNicholas, E., & Sinclair, A. J. (2016) · Journal of Diabetes and its Complications · doi:10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2016.07.027 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Comorbidity and the rate of cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer dementia
Solomon, A., Dobranici, L., Kåreholt, I., Tudose, C., & Lăzărescu, M. (2011) · International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/gps.2670 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Aston, L., Hilton, A., Moutela, T., Shaw, R. L., & Maidment, I. D. (2017) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/s12877-017-0638-6 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Medication management concerns of ethnic minority family caregivers of people living with dementia
Gillespie, R. J., Harrison, L., & Mullan, J. (2013) · Dementia · doi:10.1177/1471301213488900 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Impact of dementia on caring for patients’ diabetes
Feil, D. G., Lukman, R., Simon, B. F., Walston, A., & Vickrey, B. G. (2011) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607863.2011.569485 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Leggett, A. N., Polenick, C. A., Maust, D. T., & Kales, H. C. (2018) · The Gerontologist · doi:10.1093/geront/gnx202 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Self-citationContrasting Effects of Geriatric Versus General Medical Multimorbidity on Quality of Ambulatory Care
Min, L. C., Kerr, E. A., Blaum, C. S., Reuben, D. B., Cigolle, C. T., & Wenger, N. S. (2014) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1111/jgs.12989 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Self-citationMathew, S. A., Gane, E. M., Heesch, K. C., & McPhail, S. (2016) · BMC Medicine · doi:10.1186/s12916-016-0671-x · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Bakouni, H., Guerra, S. G., Chudzinski, V., Berbiche, D., & Vasiliadis, H. (2016) · Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdw124 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
2023 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures
(2023) · Alzheimer's & Dementia · doi:10.1002/alz.13016 · Cited by 3,212 · see citing works
2024 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures
(2024) · Alzheimer's & Dementia · doi:10.1002/alz.13809 · Cited by 2,536 · see citing works
2022 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures
Anonymous (2022) · Alzheimer s & Dementia · doi:10.1002/alz.12638 · Cited by 2,384 · see citing works
2021 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures
Anonymous (2021) · Alzheimer s & Dementia · doi:10.1002/alz.12328 · Cited by 2,236 · see citing works
2025 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures
(2025) · Alzheimer s & Dementia · doi:10.1002/alz.70235 · Cited by 569 · see citing works
Alzheimer disease blood biomarkers: considerations for population-level use
Mielke, M. M., & Fowler, N. R. (2024) · Nature Reviews Neurology · doi:10.1038/s41582-024-00989-1 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
2026 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures
(2026) · Alzheimer s & Dementia · doi:10.1002/alz.71345 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Zhang, J., Wang, J., Liu, H., & Wu, C. (2023) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/s12877-023-03774-9 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Caregiver support and place of death among older adults
Lei, L., Gerlach, L. B., Powell, V. D., & Maust, D. T. (2021) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1111/jgs.17055 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Meyer, K., Glassner, A. A., Norman, R. S., James, D., Sculley, R., LealVasquez, L., Hepburn, K. W., Liu, J., & White, C. L. (2022) · Geriatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2022.03.013 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Lasting impact of relationships on caregiving difficulties, burden, and rewards
Huo, M. L., & Kim, K. (2022) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/02654075221118095 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Secinti, E., Lewson, A. B., Wu, W., Kent, E. E., & Mosher, C. E. (2021) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1093/abm/kaab007 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
White, C. L., Barrera, A., Turner, S., Glassner, A. A., Brackett, J. R., Rivette, S., & Meyer, K. (2022) · Geriatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2022.04.012 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Zhou, Y., O’Hara, A., Ishado, E., Soo Borson, B., & Sadak, T. I. (2020) · The Gerontologist · doi:10.1093/geront/gnaa218 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Chevrier, B., Untas, A., & Dorard, G. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19138104 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Mental health care needs of caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease from online forum analysis
Kim, J. Y., Cai, Z. R., Chen, M. L., Rezaei, S. J., Onyeka, S., Rodríguez, C. I., Hernandez‐Boussard, T., Filkov, V., Whitmer, R. A., Linos, E., et al. (2024) · npj Mental Health Research · doi:10.1038/s44184-024-00100-y · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Lei, L., Maust, D. T., & Leggett, A. N. (2023) · The Journals of Gerontology Series B · doi:10.1093/geronb/gbad107 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Thirukumaran, C. P., Ricciardi, B. F., Cai, X., Holloway, R. G., Li, Y., & Glance, L. G. (2022) · JAMA Health Forum · doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.5111 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Zhou, Y., Thakkar, N. C., Phelan, E. A., Ishado, E., Li, C., Soo Borson, B., & Sadak, T. I. (2024) · Dementia · doi:10.1177/14713012241267137 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Managing diabetes and dementia, a challenging duo: a scoping review
Sharkey, F., & COATES, V. E. (2023) · Practical Diabetes · doi:10.1002/pdi.2469 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Liu, R. M., Peak, K., Trubits, E. F., & Quiñones, A. R. (2025) · European Geriatric Medicine · doi:10.1007/s41999-024-01150-3 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Ahmad, N., Kunicki, Z. J., Tambor, E. S., Epstein-Lubow, G. P., & Tremont, G. N. (2023) · Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology · doi:10.1177/08919887231195217 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Análise da sobrecarga de cuidadores de idosos com Doença de Alzheimer: estudo transversal
Lin, C. C., Marques, I. V. P., Dantas, A. C. A., Lyra, C. R., da Silva, E. Q., Júnior, J. R. A. D. N., & de Oliveira, D. V. (2024) · Saúde e Pesquisa · doi:10.17765/2176-9206.2024v17n1.e12296 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Zhang, X., Wang, M., Chen, K., Shi, N., Xia, C., Yang, Z., Chen, F., & Lin, X. (2024) · Journal of Alzheimer s Disease · doi:10.3233/jad-240629 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Shen, W. H., Lin, J., Chan, S., Yuh‐Shiow, L., & Wang, J. (2025) · Nursing and Health Sciences · doi:10.1111/nhs.70081 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Profiling the needs of dementia caregivers in a Brazilian cross‐sectional study
Andrade, A. C., Montiel‐Aponte, M. C., Prati, R. C., Marin, S. D. M. C., Mattos, E. B. T., Yamamoto, F. S., Novelli, M. M. P. C., & Lima, W. T. (2025) · Alzheimer s & Dementia Translational Research & Clinical Interventions · doi:10.1002/trc2.70067 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Steenkamp, T., Mazibuko, P. S., & Kotzé, C. (2023) · South African Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v29i0.2078 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Shi, J., & Scott, C. (2023) · Home Health Care Management & Practice · doi:10.1177/10848223231162861 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Perioperative Considerations for Patients with a Known Diagnosis of Dementia
McSwain, J. R., Sirianni, J. M., & Wilson, S. H. (2021) · Advances in Anesthesia · doi:10.1016/j.aan.2021.07.007
Akyol, M. A., Söylemez, B. A., & Özgül, E. (2023) · Ordu Üniversitesi Hemşirelik Çalışmaları Dergisi · doi:10.38108/ouhcd.1097620
Zhang, J., Wang, J., Liu, H., & Wu, C. (2023) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.22605238
Caregiving for Older Adults with Hypertension: A Scoping Review
Lakshminarayan, K., Urbanski, D. P., Hunt, S., McCarthy, T. C., Steele, M. V., Ghimire, U., Baig, F., Rivera-León, A. M., Berning, M. J., Belhasan, D., et al. (2026) · Journal of Applied Gerontology · doi:10.1177/07334648261472538
Long-Term Cognitive and Functional Outcomes of Anesthesia and Surgery in Patients with Dementia
Kršek, A., Sabati, L., Krajina, I., Lewandowska, Z. N., Tokmadžić, V. S., & Batičić, L. (2026) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare14172821
Blasi, M. T., Buscarnera, S., Salzillo, M., Suárez‐Calvet, M., Iaccarino, G., Grande, G., Valletta, M., Nielsen, T. R., Simonsen, A. H., Nuti, F., et al. (2026) · Ageing Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.arr.2026.103366
- Authors
- Polenick, C. A., Min, L., & Kales, H. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Polenick, Courtney A.
- Venue
- Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-11-20
- Volume
- 68
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 609-613
- ISSN
- 0002-8614 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-5415
- PMC
- PMC7354235
- OpenAlex
- W2990585354
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Aging (K01AG059829, P30AG024824)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
- Keywords
- dementia, comorbidities, family caregivers, osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, arthritis, caregiver well-being
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Chronic Disease, Cross-Sectional Studies, Dementia, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Comorbidity, Caregivers, Independent Living
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
