The Health Impact of Living with a Cognitively Impaired Elderly Spouse

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the health consequences of living with a cognitively impaired spouse in a sample of 318 spouse pairs, drawn from a representative sample of noninstitutionalized elderly individuals. Our principal findings were that (a) cognitive impairment in wives was significantly (p < .05) associated with elevated systolic blood pressure in husbands, whereas cognitive impairment in husbands was not associated with systolic blood pressure in wives; (b) cognitive impairment in wives was significantly (p < .05) associated with perceived declines in health status in husbands, but cognitive impairment in husbands was not related to perceived declines in health status in wives; (c) the relationships between wives' cognitive impairment and husbands' blood pressure and perceived health status were not mediated through limitations in activities of daily living in wives, chronic conditions in wives, or perceived inadequacy of emotional or instrumental support; and (d) cognitive functioning in one spouse was not related to health behaviors in the partner. Taken together, our results suggest that spouses of community-dwelling impaired individuals are not so severely affected that they cannot function normally. However, they suffer from health problems that can have serious consequences.