Background: For a significant proportion of the older population, increasing age is associated with health problems and worsening health. Older family caregivers are largely responsible for care of next-of-kin living at home, which impacts their own physical and mental health both positively and negatively. However, evidence is insufficient regarding the health situation of older caregivers. The aim of this study was to investigate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and pain, and their associations, among caregivers aged ≥60 years. Methods: The participants (n = 3444) were recruited from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care-Blekinge and Good Aging in Skåne during 2001-2004. Participants aged ≥60 years were selected randomly and underwent cognitive tests, with demographic information obtained through questionnaires. The response rate was 60%. A predefined research protocol was used. HRQoL was measured with the Short-Form Health Survey, dimension mental health. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the associations between HRQoL and pain as well as control factors. Results: Family caregiving was reported by 395 (11.5%) of the participants, and 56.7% of the caregivers reported pain. Family caregivers reported lower pain intensity on the Visual Analogue Scale and were younger, on median, than noncaregivers. Irrespective of caregiver status, pain was associated with mental HRQoL. Concerns about personal health and financial status had the strongest associations with mental HRQOL in both groups, but the levels were higher among caregivers. Conclusion: Pain was one factor associated with low HRQoL regardless of family caregiver status and remained important when controlling for factors related to advanced age. This finding remained among family caregivers, though they reported lower pain intensity. Factors other than pain were shown to be important to mental HRQoL and should also be taken into consideration when discussing actions for family caregivers to maintain and improve health and HRQoL. Trial registration number: Not applicable.

Background/Aim. Certain groups of informal caregivers have been shown to have worse health compared to noncaregivers. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore the health and gender aspects of caregiving in an older Swedish population. Methods. Our study included 5457 participants from the longitudinal, general population study “Good Aging in Skåne.” A total of 33 self-reported symptoms were obtained from questionnaires and were then divided into seven domains: depressive, musculoskeletal, gastrourinary, symptoms related to head, cardiopulmonary, symptoms related to tension, and metabolic symptoms. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the risk of developing symptoms in each of the seven domains, regarding caregiving burden and caregiving in relation to gender. Results. We found that caregivers, compared to noncaregivers, had a higher prevalence for depressive and tension-related symptoms. High-burden caregivers exhibited significantly more individual symptoms and a higher prevalence of symptoms in the depressive, tension, and gastrourinary domains of symptoms compared to both low-burden caregivers and noncaregivers. More than 79% of high-burden caregivers reported general fatigue, and over half of the high-burden caregivers experience depressive mood. Female caregivers showed a significantly higher risk of reporting depressive symptoms (OR = 1.54, 95% CI 1.19–1.98) and tension-related symptoms compared to male caregivers. Conclusion. Depressive and tension-related symptoms were more common in caregivers, especially in high-burden caregivers. High-burden caregivers might be at a risk of adverse mental health, and this highlights the need to offer proper support to these groups.

Pain is common among older adults and there are significant differences between the sexes. Almost 55% of participants reported pain, predominantly women. In the majority of cases the intensity was rated as moderate or severe (VAS >4) and women rated higher than men p<002. Almost half of the men (48.7%) did not receive any treatment compared to 37% of the women, p<001.

Background and aims The influence of pain as well as Quality of Life (QoL) varies in accordance with biological, social, psychological and existential factors. This study investigates the influence of such factors on the relationship between pain and QoL among older adults from a gender perspective. Methods The Swedish National Study on Aging and Care (SNAC-Blekinge) baseline sample comprised 1402 individuals aged 60-96 years, of whom 769 (55%) reported pain. The participants were invited by a letter to take part in the study, which was carried out by research staff in two sessions of three hour each. Participants gave informed consent and completed a questionnaire between the two sessions. The reason for non-participation was registered among subjects who declined the invitation. Pain and insomnia were self-reported. Data on age, gender and if living alone or not were collected from the questionnaire. Co-morbidity was obtained from electronic patients records for a period of up to two years prior to participating in the SNAC study. SoC was measured by a translated short form from the original twenty-nine question instrument. QoL, was estimated using the HRQL Medical Outcome Study-Short Form (SF 12). In a model, pain, age, sex, insomnia, co-morbidity, living alone, sense of coherence (SOC), household economy, education and QoL were calculated through multivariate logistic regression. Results Among women, pain was found to have the highest OR (odds ratio) for low QoL [OR 2.27 (CI 1.36-3.78)], followed by low economic status [OR 1.75 (CI 1.08-2.84)], co-morbidity [OR 1.24 (CI 1.05-1.46)], low SOC [OR 1.08 (CI 1.06-1.10)] and lower age [OR 1.05 (CI 1.02-1.08)]. In men, insomnia was found to be the main contributor to low QoL [OR 1.86 (CI 1.04-3.33)], followed by low SOC [OR 1.08 (CI 1.05-1.11)] and lower age [OR 1.04 (CI 1.01-1.07)]. Conclusions Pain has a strong relationship with low QoL among elderly women. Insomnia is associated with low QoL among men who suffer less from pain. Thus the main result is a striking gender difference: Elderly women suffer from pain, elderly men suffer from insomnia. Implications It is importanttotake accountof sex, age, sleep problems, co-morbidity, SOC and economic status in order to understand the relationship between pain and QoL among older adults.