Volume 59, Issue 8 e14040
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Lower activity linkage between caregivers and persons with neurodegenerative diseases is associated with greater caregiver anxiety

Kuan-Hua Chen

Kuan-Hua Chen

Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

Contribution: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, ​Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing - original draft

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James J. Casey

James J. Casey

Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, ​Investigation, Writing - original draft

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Dyan E. Connelly

Dyan E. Connelly

Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

Contribution: Data curation, Writing - review & editing

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Jennifer Merrilees

Jennifer Merrilees

Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

Contribution: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing - review & editing

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Chien-Ming Yang

Chien-Ming Yang

Department of Psychology/The Research Center for Mind, Brain & Leaning, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Resources, Writing - review & editing

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Bruce L. Miller

Bruce L. Miller

Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

Contribution: Funding acquisition, Supervision

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Robert W. Levenson

Corresponding Author

Robert W. Levenson

Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

Correspondence

Robert W. Levenson, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Room 3302, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA.

Email: [email protected]

Contribution: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, ​Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing - review & editing

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First published: 22 March 2022

Kuan-Hua Chen and James J. Casey are equal contributions.

Funding information

This research was supported by National Institute on Aging (RO1AG041762 and P01AG019724 to R.W.L, K99 K99AG059947 to K.-H.C.)

Abstract

Physiological linkage refers to the degree to which two individuals' central/peripheral physiological activities change in coordinated ways. Previous research has focused primarily on linkage in the autonomic nervous system in laboratory settings, particularly examining how linkage is associated with social behavior and relationship quality. In this study, we examined how linkage in couples' daily somatic activity (e.g., synchronized movement measured from wrist sensors)—another important aspect of peripheral physiology—was associated with relationship quality and mental health. We focused on persons with neurodegenerative diseases (PWNDs) and their spousal caregivers, whose linkage might have direct implications for the PWND–caregiver relationship and caregiver’s health. Twenty-two PWNDs and their caregivers wore wristwatch actigraphy devices that provided continuous measurement of activity over 7 days at home. PWND–caregiver activity linkage was quantified by the degree to which activity was “in-phase” or “anti-phase” linked (i.e., coordinated changes in the same or opposite direction) during waking hours, computed by correlating minute-by-minute activity levels averaged using a 10-min rolling window. Caregivers completed well-validated surveys that assessed their mental health (including anxiety and depression) and relationship quality with the PWND. We found that lower in-phase activity linkage, but not anti-phase linkage, was associated with higher caregiver anxiety. These dyad-level effects were robust, remaining significant after adjusting for somatic activity at the individual level. No effects were found for caregiver depression or relationship quality. These findings suggest activity linkage and wearables may be useful for day-by-day monitoring of vulnerable populations such as family caregivers. We offered several possible explanations for our findings.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None of the authors have known financial interests or potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data, analytic methods, and materials will be made available to other researchers upon request.

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