Week 15 post 1

I began searching for articles attempting to explain the occurrence of both spouses dying in a given time period after the first one dies. There are several cases, one recently, where the husband or wife dies and them the partner is so grief-stricken that they pass away not long after. I was search through articles, but I came across one that is relevant to my family. The article is entitled "Cardiometabolic Effects in Caregivers of Nursing Home Placement and Death of Their Spouse with Alzheimer's Disease." My grandfather took care of my grandmother for about 10 years until her disease progressed to a point where he could not physically do it anymore and had no other option, but to put her in a nursing home. When he did that, he was stressed about it for a while, but not long after we noticed a relief of stress in my grandpa. He became more stressed about the fact that his wife of 54 years was no longer herself and was totally taken over by a disease, but she eventually died short of 2 years in the facility. Anyway, the research objective was to test the hypothesis that "cardiometabolic risk is attenuated when caregivers are relieved of caregiving stress when the caregiving recipient transitions out of the home." Basically speaking, cardiac stress decreases in the caregiver when the one needing care is admitted to a care facility where they passed away. This involved 119 spouses caring for their partner with Alzheimer's disease. This was compared with a control of 55 non-caregiving controls (Känel, Mausbach, Dimsdale, et. al., p. 2037). A longitudinal study was performed and 3 yearly stress assessments were completed. The results was that stress in caregivers decreased within 3 months of the death of their spouse. After the death of the spouse with Alzheimer's, a decrease in blood pressure was seen and the level of triglycerides decreased (Känel, Mausbach, Dimsdale, et. al., p. 2043). 

After my grandmother had passed away, be noticed some depression in my grandpa, he was often quiet and wanted to be alone. It has been two years since then and I have noticed that my grandpa is  talking and laughing a lot more. We have seen an improvement in my grandpa, so this study definitely correlates to him.

Känel, R., Mausbach, B. T., Dimsdale, J. E., Mills, P. J., Patterson, T. L., Ancoli-Israel, S., & ... Grant, I. (2011). Cardiometabolic Effects in Caregivers of Nursing Home Placement and Death of Their Spouse with Alzheimer's Disease. Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 59(11), 2037-2044. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03634.x