The health problems of employees who care for others may cost U.S. companies about $13.4 billion each year.
Employees who are caring for older relatives are more likely to report health problems such as depression, diabetes, hypertension or heart disease than are noncaregivers, according to the MetLife Mature Market Institute, Westport, Conn., an affiliate of MetLife Inc., New York. (NYSE:MET)
That factor may increase caregiver-employees' own health care costs about 8%, institute researchers report.
Health care costs for caregiver-employees ages 18 to 39 are 11% higher than for noncaregivers.
Providing elder care may be closely associated with high-risk behaviors such as smoking and alcohol consumption, the researchers write.
The institute report, produced with the National Alliance for Caregiving, Bethesda, Md., and the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Aging, was drawn from an analysis of health risk assessment questionnaires from 17,000 employees of a major multinational U.S. corporation. About 12% of the participants were caregivers.
Additional findings:
- Younger caregivers demonstrated significantly higher rates of cholesterol, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, depression, kidney disease and heart disease than did noncaregivers of the same age group.
- Employed caregivers find it harder than do noncaregivers to mind their own health or take part in preventive health screenings. For instance, women caregivers were less likely to report receiving annual mammograms than noncaregivers were.
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