This study investigated the effects of outpatient geriatric evaluation and
management (GEM) on informal caregivers' sense of burden. We randomized 568
high-risk, community-dwelling older adults to receive either GEM or usual
care for 6 months. At baseline and one year later, we assessed the burden e
xperienced by their informal caregivers (N = 88). Compared with caregivers
of participants in the usual care group, caregivers of participants in the
GEM group were less than half as likely to report increased burden during t
he one-year follow-up period (16.7% vs 38.5 %, p = .034). The findings sugg
est that GEM helps protect the informal caregivers of high-risk older peopl
e from the increases in burden that often accompany advancing age.