Abstract
Background: Spousal care is the most important source of informal care in old age. Nevertheless, despite the growing importance of this issue, the association between providing spousal care inside the household and pain remains unexplored in Europe.Objective and Methods: This study aims to estimate the prevalence of pain reported by spouse caregivers aged 65 plus that provide care inside the household and to investigate the association between providing spousal care and pain. Data from 17 European countries that participated in wave 6 of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is used. The analyses are based on 26,301 respondents aged 65 years and older who provide informal care inside the household to their spouse/partner exclusively (N = 1,895) or do not provide any informal care (inside or outside the household) (24,406). Descriptive statistics and multilevel logistic regressions (individual-level as level 1, and country as level 2) were performed.Results: Overall, spouse caregivers report pain more often (63.4%) than their non-caregiver‘s counterparts (50.3%). Important differences in the prevalence of pain among spouse caregivers were found between countries, with Portugal (80.3%), Spain (74.6%), France (73%), Italy (72.4%), and Slovenia (72.1) showing the highest prevalence of pain, and Denmark (36%), Switzerland (41.5) and Sweden (42.3%), the lowest. Results from multilevel logistic regressions show that European individuals aged 65+ who provide spousal care have an increased likelihood of reporting pain (OR 1.30; CI = 1.13–1.48).Conclusion: Our results suggest that in Europe, spouse caregivers aged 65+ are at greater risk of experiencing pain. Therefore, European policymakers should consider spouse caregivers as a health priority group, and take measures to ensure they receive comprehensive health and socio-economic support.
Highlights
In old age, spouse caregivers are considered to be the most important source of informal care [1]
Pain is significantly associated with the caregiver burden [9, 10] and with an overestimation of the pain of the cared-for person [11]
We found missing values higher than 5% in the economic and health variables and used SHARE multiple imputations to maximize the number of observations [42]
Summary
Spouse caregivers are considered to be the most important source of informal care [1]. Spouse caregivers usually live with the care recipient, provide more hours of care, and find less respite from their caregiver role than. Spousal Care and Pain other caregivers [4]. The majority report having no choice in taking up the caregiving role [5], they provide higher levels of care [6], and many are solo caregivers [7]. Spousal care is the most important source of informal care in old age. Despite the growing importance of this issue, the association between providing spousal care inside the household and pain remains unexplored in Europe
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
