A Lens on Caregiver Stress in Cancer

Longitudinal Investigation of Cancer-Related Stress and Telomere Length Among Family Caregivers of Adult Patients With Cancer

Bibliographic Data

ID19306199
AuthorsY Kim (0000-0002-3109-6362, Fundación Juan March, corresponding author), Jue Lin (0000-0001-7216-1610, Fundación Juan March), Elissa S Epel (0000-0002-9334-4720, Fundación Juan March), Charles S Carver (0000-0002-3688-8545, Fundación Juan March)
Year2023
Volume85
Issue6
Pages527-534
Publication date2023-07-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychosomatic Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-3174 • E-ISSN: 1534-7796
PublisherOvid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1097/psy.0000000000001220
PMID37260287
OpenAlexW4378952957
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited47

OBJECTIVE: Family members are typically the primary caregivers of patients with chronic illnesses. Family caregivers of adult relatives with cancer are a fast-growing population, yet the physical consequences of their stress due to the cancer in the family have been poorly understood. This study examined the bidirectional relations of the perceived stress of family caregivers of individuals recently diagnosed with cancer and leukocyte cellular aging indexed by telomere length for 2 years. METHODS: Family caregivers ( N = 168; mean age = 51 years, 70% female, 46% Hispanic, 36% spouse to the patient) of patients with colorectal cancer provided psychological data and peripheral blood samples approximately 4 (T1), 12 (T2), and 21 months (T3) after diagnosis. Time-lagged cross-panel modeling was used to test the associations of perceived cancer-related stress and telomere length, controlling for age, sex, and body mass index. RESULTS: Cancer-related stress was highest at T1 and decreased by 1 year. Greater cancer-related stress predicted longer telomere length at subsequent assessments for 2 years ( β ≥ 0.911, p ≤ .019). However, telomere length did not change significantly for 2 years overall and did not prospectively predict cancer-related stress over this period. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest the need to better understand how the perceived stress of colorectal cancer caregivers, which tends to be intense for a relatively short period compared with dementia caregiving, may impact immune cell distributions and telomere length. These findings emphasize the need for further knowledge about psychobiological mechanisms of how cancer caregiving may impact cellular aging

Biology · Cancer · Colorectal cancer · Dementia · Disease · Family caregivers · Population · Spouse · Telomere · Cancer survivorship and care · Cancer-related cognitive impairment studies · Genetics · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence · Gerontology

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