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Spousal Caregivers of Patients With Alzheimer's Disease Show Longitudinal Increases in Plasma Level of Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator Antigen

From the Department of Psychiatry (B.T.M., R.v.K., K.A., S.K.R., J.E.D., P.J.M., T.L.P., S.A.-I., I.G.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; Department of General Internal Medicine (R.v.K.), University Hospital Berne, Berne, Switzerland; Department of Medicine (M.G.Z.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System (S.A.-I.), San Diego, California.

View larger version (10K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Estimated 5-year rate of change in tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) antigen for caregivers versus controls (mean ± standard error of the mean). The slope for caregivers (0.97 ± 0.21) was significant (p < .001), whereas the slope for noncaregiving controls (0.31 ± 0.19) was not (p = .12), with the average caregiver rate of increase three times as great as noncaregivers. Participants available at each assessment were as follows: Baseline = 165; 1-year follow-up = 124; 2-year follow-up = 97; 3-year follow-up = 42; 4-year follow-up = 12.

View larger version (16K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 2. Mean ± standard error of the mean Hamilton Scale for Depression (HAM-D) (A) and Role Overload (B) scores for caregivers and noncaregivers over time.