FOLIC ACID & HOMOCYSTEINE: DOSE RESPONSE STUDY

我们将检查慢性压力个体（阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者的配偶照顾者）。配偶照顾者失去了AD配偶的陪伴和支持。这些损失，加上长期的身体、情感和经济需求（1,2）以及生物行为脆弱性，使配偶照顾者面临心理生理困扰和身体健康问题的风险增加(3)。在之前的研究中，我们研究了各种心理行为（例如，争吵、愤怒/敌意、锻炼、饮食）和生理指标。在检查的代谢、心血管（CV）和免疫指标中，代谢变量（体重指数/肥胖、胰岛素和葡萄糖）显示出与护理的最强关系，而CV指标显示出一些关系。这些结果使我们现在把重点放在代谢/神经内分泌的测量上。这些措施有资格作为照顾与冠心病（CHD）之间关系的中介，因为它们与压力和冠心病都有关。

We will examine chronically stressed individuals (spouse caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Spouse caregivers lose the companionship and support of their AD spouses. These losses, coupled with chronic physical, emotional and financial demands (1, 2) as well as biobehavioral vulnerabilities, put spouse caregivers at increased risk for psychophysiological distress and physical health problems (3). In previous work with caregivers and matched controls, we studied a variety of psychobehavioral (e.g., hassles, anger/hostility, exercise, diet) and physiological measures. Of the metabolic, cardiovascular (CV), and immune measures examined, metabolic variables (Body Mass Index/obesity, insulin, and glucose) showed the strongest relationships with caregiving, whereas CV measures showed some relationships. These results lead us to focus now on metabolic/neuroendocrine measures. Such measures qualify as mediators of the relationship between caregiving and coronary heart disease (CHD) because they are related to both stress and CHD.