Capturing patients' symptom expression and spouses' cardiovascular responses continuously: The feasibility of examining a mechanism of disease risk in the home.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Spousal caregivers face increased cardiovascular risks; lab studies suggest that autonomic reactivity to patients' physical suffering may play a role. To evaluate this mechanism in daily life, our pilot study characterized the feasibility of recruiting couples for a multimethod, in-home assessment. We examined the usability of the resulting data in an effort to link spousal cardiovascular changes to patient pain expression during couples' everyday interactions.

Method

For two 48-hr periods, individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their partners wore heart monitors while audio-recordings captured couples' in-home interactions. Interbeat intervals were subsetted in 1-, 2-, and 5-min windows before and after each pain expression. Pre-post difference scores i

SUBMITTER: Wilson SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6310082 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature