Blunted Cortisol Awakening Response and Poor Self-Perceived Health in Informal Caregivers of People with Eating Disorders

Caring for offspring diagnosed with eating disorders (EDs) entails being under high chronic stress, with negative consequences for health. However, most previous research has only evaluated self‐report measures of health, biological markers being poorly studied. In this regard, the evaluation of the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European eating disorders review 2016-09, Vol.24 (5), p.383-390
Main Authors: Ruiz-Robledillo, Nicolás, Romero-Martínez, Ángel, Moya-Albiol, Luis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anorexia Nervosa - metabolism
Anorexia Nervosa - psychology
Anxiety
Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis
Biomarkers
Bulimia Nervosa - metabolism
Bulimia Nervosa - psychology
Caregivers
Caregivers - psychology
cortisol awakening response
Depressive Disorder, Major
Eating disorders
Feeding and Eating Disorders - metabolism
Feeding and Eating Disorders - psychology
Female
Health Status
Hormones
Humans
Hydrocortisone - metabolism
Male
Self Concept
Self Report
self-reported health
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders
Stress
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Caring for offspring diagnosed with eating disorders (EDs) entails being under high chronic stress, with negative consequences for health. However, most previous research has only evaluated self‐report measures of health, biological markers being poorly studied. In this regard, the evaluation of the cortisol awakening response (CAR) could add significant information about the biological basis of health disturbances in this population. The main aim of the present study was to compare CAR and self‐reported health between informal caregivers (ICs) of people with EDs and non‐caregivers. Furthermore, we explored the effect of the nature of the diagnosis, comparing ICs of people with anorexia and bulimia nervosa. ICs had a blunted CAR, and more anxiety and insomnia, and social dysfunction, together with poorer perceived general health than non‐caregivers. ICs of people with anorexia nervosa had higher levels of morning cortisol and burden, and more social dysfunction and severe depression than those of people with bulimia nervosa. Our results demonstrate marked health problems in ICs of people with EDs, especially when the care recipient has anorexia nervosa. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.
ISSN:1072-4133
1099-0968
DOI:10.1002/erv.2455