caregiving facts

Before last year I would not have paid attention to these stats:

More than 50 million people provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year.

Caregiving is no longer predominantly a women's issue. Men now make up 44% of the caregiving population.

Caregivers providing care for a family member over the age of 50 routinely underestimate the length of time they will spend as caregivers - only 46% expected to be caregivers longer than two years. In fact the average length of time spent on caregiving was about eight years, with approximately one third of respondents providing care for 10 years or more.

Most women will spend 17 years caring for children and 18 years helping an elderly parent.

The value of the services family caregivers provide for "free" is estimated to be $257 billion a year. That is twice as much as is actually spent on homecare and nursing home services.

Caregiving families tend to have lower incomes than non-caregiving families. Thirty-five percent of average American households have incomes of under $30,000. Among caregiving families the percentage is 43%.

Of the estimated 2.5 million Americans who need assistive technology such as wheelchairs, 61% can't afford it.

Out of pocket medical expenses for a family that has a disabled member who needs help with activities of daily living (eating, toileting, etc.) are more than 2.5% greater (11.2% of income compared to 4.1%) than for a family without a disabled member.

IMPACT OF CAREGIVING

Elderly spousal caregivers with a history of chronic illness themselves who are experiencing caregiving related stress have a 63% higher mortality rate than their non-caregiving peers.

The stress of family caregiving for person's with dementia has been shown to impact a person's immune system for up to three years after their caregiving ends thus increasing their chances of developing a chronic illness themselves.

Family caregivers who provide care 36 or more hours weekly are more likely than non-caregivers to experience symptoms of depression or anxiety. For spouses the rate is six times higher; for those caring for a parent the rate is twice as high.

Family caregivers providing high levels of care have a 51% incidence of sleeplessness and a 41% incidence of back pain.


CAREGIVING AND WORK

Forty two percent of parents of special needs children lack basic workplace supports, such as paid sick leave and vacation time.

Women average 11.5 years out of the paid labor force, primarily because of caregiving responsibilities; men average 1.3 years.

American businesses loses between $11 billion and $29 billion each year due to employees' need to care for loved ones 50 years of age and older.

Both male and female children of aging parents make changes at work in order to accommodate caregiving responsibilities. Both have modified their schedules (men 54%, women 56%). Both have come in late and/or leave early (men 78%, women 84%) and both have altered their work-related travel (men 38%, women 27%).

CAREGIVING AND HEALTH CARE

Over 40% of U.S. primary care physicians think they don't have enough time to spend with patients.

Family caregivers provide the overwhelming majority of homecare services in the U.S., approximately 80%.

In 2000, 50 percent of caregivers reported that different providers gave different diagnoses for the same set of symptoms and 62 percent reported that different providers gave other conflicting information. Another recent survey found that 44 percent of physicians believe that poor care coordination leads to unnecessary hospitalization, and 24 percent stated it can lead to otherwise unnecessary nursing home stays.

By the year 2030, nearly 150 million Americans will have some type of chronic illness, a 50% increase since 1995.

Family caregivers who acknowledge their role are more proactive in reaching out for resources and talking with their loved one's doctor than non-acknowledged caregivers.

Over 40 percent of family caregivers provide some type of 'nursing care' for their loved ones, such as giving medications, changing bandages, managing machinery and monitoring vital signs.

One-third of family caregivers who change dressings and manage machines, receive no instructions.

For sources and more info go to the National Family Caregiver Association site.