Impact of Informal Caregiving on Health Outcomes: A Population-Based Analysis Using BRFSS Data (2015–2020)

Background Informal caregivers provide essential care to family members and friends with health problems or disabilities, yet little is known about the population-level health impacts of caregiving responsibilities.

To examine the association between informal caregiver status and physical and mental health outcomes using nationally representative data.

I analyzed data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2015-2020, focusing on respondents with caregiver status information (n=422,495). Care-givers were defined as individuals providing regular care or assistance to a family member or friend with a health problem or disability. Primary outcomes were poor physical health days (≥14 days in past month) and poor mental health days (≥14 days in past month). I used survey-weighted logistic regression accounting for the complex sampling design.

Among 422,495 respondents, 89,814 (21.3%) were caregivers. Caregivers were more likely to be female (58.4% vs 50.6%) and report poor health outcomes. After accounting for survey weights, caregivers had significantly higher odds of poor physical health (OR=1.28, 95% CI: 1.23-1.34, p<0.001) and poor mental health (OR=1.70, 95% CI: 1.63-1.77, p<0.001) compared to non-caregivers. Mental health disparities were particularly pronounced, with 16.5% of caregivers vs 10.4% of non-caregivers reporting ≥14 poor mental health days.

Informal caregivers experience significant health disparities compared to non-caregivers, particularly for mental health outcomes. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions and policies to support caregiver health and wellbeing. - caregivers - health disparities - population health - BRFSS - mental health - physical health Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The study used ONLY openly available human data that were originally located in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), conducted annually by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). BRFSS data are publicly available, de-identified, and accessible before the initiation of this study. The data can be located at the CDC BRFSS official website: https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/ and the CDC BRFSS data portal: https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/annual_data/annual_data.htm. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data Availability All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the author