FRIDAY, Feb. 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) – A growing numbers of family members now provide care for older adults who live at home or in residential care settings, a new study shows.
Their ranks increased 32%, from 18.2 million to 24.1 million, between 2011 and 2022, according to new research in the journal Health Affairs.
The number of hours that these folks spent caring for older adults with dementia jumped by nearly 50%, from an average 21.4 hours per week in 2011 to 31 hours in 2022.
Exactly what is driving the increase in family or unpaid caregiving is not fully understood, but researchers speculate that it may be due to a rise in the number of people who live with the folks who they assist.
For the study, researchers culled data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) in 2011 and 2022.
The NHATS interviews older adults enrolled in Medicare each year about their daily activities, while the NSOC collects information on unpaid and family caregivers.
The study comprised older adults who got help with self-care, mobility or household activities for health or functioning reasons and the family or unpaid caregivers who assisted them.
Researchers compared changes in the number and characteristics of older adults receiving family care and the size and make-up of the older family caregiver workforce.
They also looked at changes in family caregivers when the older adult they looked after had dementia.
About 12% of unpaid caregivers in 2022 were non-family members, such as friends or neighbors, with the balance identifying themselves as relatives, the study showed.
Compared to 2022, caregivers assisting older adults were generally younger, better educated and more likely to be male in 2011.
The size of care networks stayed the same among older adults with dementia in 2011 and 2022. Caregivers reported little change in caregiving difficulty or competing responsibilities, such as jobs and childcare, in spite of reduced outside help and lack of access to support groups.
Caregiving responsibilities continue to fall primarily on women, the study showed.
People who care for folks with dementia and those who have limited financial resources are at greater risk for negative consequences, the study found.
“Our results show remarkable stability in caregiving experiences, even as the number of caregivers has increased significantly,” said Jennifer Wolff, director of the Roger and Flo Lipitz Center to Advance Policy in Aging and Disability at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
“This runs counter to the policy narrative that emphasizes dire concern about the effects of increasing demands being placed on family caregivers,” she added in a news release. “However, we must address the specific challenges faced by subgroups, particularly those caring for individuals with dementia.”
With the population of adults aged 85 and older projected to triple by 2050, there is an urgent need to address disparities in caregiver experiences, she said.
Policymakers must develop strong supports for family caregivers, including state-level paid family leave policies.
Other initiatives such as Medicaid waivers, which pay for care at home or within the community, and the Medicare hospice benefit, which pays for end-of-life or hospice care, can help alleviate caregiver stress and lessen the financial impact of caring for loved ones as they age.
“Family caregivers are critical to our care-delivery system,” Wolff concluded. “Looking ahead, we must identify and support their needs to ensure they can continue providing the critical support that millions of older adults rely on.”
More Information
The Family Caregiver Alliance provides information on self-care for family caregivers.
SOURCE: Johns Hopkins, news release, Feb. 4, 2025
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