A recent article in Science Daily reports that husbands or wives who care for spouses with dementia are six times more likely to develop the memory-impairing condition than those whose spouses don’t have it. According to results of a 12-year study led by Johns Hopkins, Utah State University and Duke University the increased risk that the researchers saw among caregivers was on par with the power of a gene variant known to increase susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease.

“Caregiving has positive aspects, as well as negative ones. If we can boost the positive aspects and reduce the negative ones, we may be able to reduce a caregiver’s risk of developing dementia,” says Peter Rabins, M.D., M.P.H at Johns Hopkins.

Senior Living Residences appreciates the opportunity to help out families in all stages of the disease process, and likewise in all stages of the research process.  For this reason, we offer a support group for families who have a loved one with Alzheimer’s, which meets the third Thursday of each month, at 6PM, here at Methuen Village. Often times we have educational seminars on different topics that affect families and our residents.