P2‐370: Mindfulness‐based stress reduction for caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Numerous studies have documented that caregiving for a dementia patient may be associated with increased risk of emotional distress, depression, dementia, physical health problems, and death. Other studies suggest that targeting caregivers as the recipients of interventions may greatly improve Alzheimer's care, leading to reduced behavioral symptoms and increased length of time that the Alzheimer's patient is able to be cared for in the home setting. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a clinical intervention based on simple meditation practices which has been shown to reduce stress and improve chronic disease outcomes for many different psychological and medical problems. However, the health benefits of MBSR for caregivers of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients have not been investigated. We initiated a program to explore the effectiveness of MBSR for reducing caregiver stress, as measured by psychological and biological markers. The studies involved 20 participants of a Mindfulness for Caregivers training course in an academic medical center, age range 39-77, 19/20 female. Psychological status was assessed before and after the course. Participants also gave blood samples for biomarker studies. Using Caregiver Self-Assessment Questionnaire (CSAQ) as a measure of overall psychological response to the training, we found MBSR intervention significantly improved the psychological status of the caregivers. We found some of the caregivers in our study benefited from MBSR while others do not. We identified multiple biomarkers whose contents in the circulating blood were correlated with indices of stress reduction following MBSR. We also identified several other biomarkers whose baseline contents in the circulating blood of caregivers prior to MBSR intervention can be directly related to the sensitivity (or resistance) of caregivers to benefit from MBSR. Outcomes from our studies support the continued development of MBSR for use with caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Disease. Our biomarker studies also provide a window into the mechanism of the health benefits of MBSR intervention and provide a logical basis for developing a personal medicine approach for applying MBSR intervention for a diverse population of caregivers. (This work was funded by discretionary fund to GMP from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.)