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. 2015 Jan-Mar;28(1):124-129.

Quality of life and factors predictive of burden among primary caregivers of chronic liver disease patients

Douglas L Nguyen  1 , Daniel Chao  1 , Grace Ma  2 , Timothy Morgan  1
Affiliations

Quality of life and factors predictive of burden among primary caregivers of chronic liver disease patients

Douglas L Nguyen et al. Ann Gastroenterol. 2015 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Background: Chronic liver disease increases the socioeconomic and emotional burden on the patient's caregiver. This is important because a patient's adherence to therapy and transplant eligibility is dependent on the caregiver's ability to handle these challenges.

Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional study of 50 primary caregivers of patients with advanced liver disease. Caregivers completed the RAND 36-item (Short Form [SF-36]) Health Survey and the Zarit Burden Scale survey. Caregiver quality of life, based on the SF-36, was compared using t-tests with the scores of the National reference population as controls.

Results: In our cohort, the mean age of caregivers was 56.9±11.4 years, 40 (83.3%) were female, and 34 (70.8%) were spouses/significant others of the patient. Compared with the adjusted National norm data, caregivers scored substantially lower in categories of role limitations due to emotional problems (P<0.001), vitality (P=0.025), mental health (P=0.005), and social functioning (P=0.002). While the adjusted physical component score of the caregivers was comparable to the National mean, the mental component score (MCS) was lower than the National average (42.4±13.3 vs. 50.0±10, P<0.001). Though only 8 of 50 (16.0%) subjects reported a formal diagnosis of depression or anxiety, 23 (46.0%) had MCS <42, a strong predictor of clinical depression, based on previous studies.

Conclusions: Primary caregivers of patients with advanced liver disease have significantly lower SF-36 mental health scores compared with the general population. Comparison of SF-36 scores to caregiver history suggests under recognition of mental health problems in this population.

Keywords: Keywords Chronic liver disease; caregiver burden; depression.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Quality of life of caregivers with chronic liver disease compared to the National norm
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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