Psychosomatic medicine
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Psychosomatic medicine · Nov 2007
Spousal caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease show longitudinal increases in plasma level of tissue-type plasminogen activator antigen.
To determine if caregivers of spouses with Alzheimer's disease demonstrate greater increase in tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) antigen relative to noncaregiving controls. Caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's disease has been associated with increased mortality and reduced time to developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), possibly due to impaired fibrinolysis resulting from chronic stress. ⋯ The accelerated rate of developing a prothrombotic environment including elevated t-PA antigen may provide one mechanism by which caregiving is associated with greater morbidity and mortality and the development of CVD.