from Medical News Today:One quarter of all family caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patientssuccumb to the stress of providing care to a loved one and becomehospital patients themselves, according to an Indiana University studypublished in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, theRegenstrief Institute and the Indiana University Center for AgingResearch report in a new study that a quarter of family caregivers ofAlzheimer's dementia patients had at least one emergency room visit orhospitalization every six months. While it has long been anecdotally recognized that caring for a familymember with Alzheimer's disease is stressful, this work is the first tomeasure just how stressful providing care is and to examine the impactof this stress on both the physical and mental health of the familycaregiver. The study found that the behavior and functioning of the individualwith Alzheimer's dementia, rather than cognitive ability, were themajor factors determining whether the caregiver went to the emergencyroom or was hospitalized.
