Author Identifier
Monique Garcia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0915-671X
Zheng Guo
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2105-4537
Yulu Zheng
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9639-8863
Zhiyuan Wu
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5694-2441
Lois Balmer
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5618-0555
Wei Wang
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
EPMA Journal
Volume
15
First Page
453
Last Page
469
Publisher
Springer
School
Centre for Precision Health / School of Medical and Health Sciences
RAS ID
71598
Funders
Edith Cowan University
Abstract
Background: Suboptimal Health Status (SHS) is the physical state between health and disease. This study aimed to fill in the knowledge gap by investigating the prevalence of SHS and psychological symptoms among unpaid carers and to identify SHS-risk factors from the perspective of predictive, preventive and personalised medicine (PPPM). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 368 participants who were enrolled from Australia, including 203 unpaid carers as cases and 165 individuals from the general population as controls. SHS scores were measured using SHSQ-25 (Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaire-25), whilst psychological symptoms were measured by DASS-21 (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21). Chi-square was used to measure SHS and psychological symptom prevalence. Spearman correlation analysis was utilised to identify the relationship between SHSQ-25 and DASS-21 scores. Logistic regression analysis was used for multivariate analysis. Results: The prevalence of SHS in carers was 43.0% (98/203), significantly higher than the prevalence 12.7% (21/165) in the general population (p < 0.001). In addition, suboptimal health prevalence was higher in female carers (50.3%; 95/189) than females in the general population (12.4%; 18/145). Logistic regression showed that the caregiving role influenced SHS, with carers 6.4 times more likely to suffer from SHS than their non-caring counterparts (aOR = 6.400, 95% CI = 3.751–10.919). Conclusions: Unpaid carers in Australia have a significantly higher prevalence of SHS than that in the general population and experience poorer health. The SHSQ-25 is a powerful tool that can be utilised to screen at-risk individuals to predict their risk of chronic disease development, an essential pillar for shifting the paradigm change from reactive medicine to that of predictive, preventive and personalised medicine (PPPM).
DOI
10.1007/s13167-024-00370-8
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Garcia, M., Guo, Z., Zheng, Y., Wu, Z., Visser, E., Balmer, L., & Wang, W. (2024). The caregiving role influences suboptimal health status and psychological symptoms in unpaid carers. EPMA Journal, 15, 453-469. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13167-024-00370-8