Psychology Unit, San Bortolo Hospital, Vicenza, Italy.
Cancer Nurs. 2012 Jan-Feb;35(1):38-47. doi: 10.1097/NCC.0b013e31820d0c23.
A large body of literature sustains the association between long-lasting caregiving for impaired significant others and increased health risk. Depression, elevated heart rate, and blood pressure at rest are key measures of health risk, mostly cardiovascular, which have been generally studied in caregivers of patients affected by dementia or chronic illness. Limited research has been conducted on emotional and cardiovascular impact of family caregiving for terminally ill cancer patients.
The aim of the present study was to examine psychological and cardiovascular responses in terminal cancer caregivers.
Twenty relative caregivers who provided in-home or hospice care to terminally ill cancer patients and 20 age- and gender-matched controls were interviewed and assessed for emotional distress. Measures of cardiovascular risk, blood pressure, and heart rate were recorded at rest in 4 separate sessions.
Caregivers reported higher levels of depression, state anxiety, and more sleep dysfunctions than controls. They also revealed heightened systolic and diastolic blood pressure in some measurements. Moreover, elevation of heart rate was associated with caregiving length.
The caregiving stressor is associated with considerable psychological vulnerability, sleep disorders, and risk of alterations in the cardiovascular system, which seem to be modulated by caregiving characteristics.
This study shows the importance of screening caregivers for psychological as well as physical symptoms and disorders. An awareness of burden of terminal cancer caregivers could lead to timely proactive preventive interventions on their physical and mental health, to decrease negative outcomes.
大量文献证实，长期照顾功能受损的重要他人与健康风险增加之间存在关联。抑郁、静息时心率和血压升高是健康风险的关键指标，主要与心血管疾病相关，这些指标在痴呆症或慢性病患者的照顾者中已得到广泛研究。对于临终癌症患者家庭照顾者的情绪和心血管影响，研究有限。
本研究旨在探讨终末期癌症照顾者的心理和心血管反应。
对 20 名为临终癌症患者提供家庭或临终关怀的亲属照顾者和 20 名年龄和性别匹配的对照者进行访谈和情绪困扰评估。在 4 个不同的时间段记录心血管风险、血压和心率的测量值。
与对照组相比，照顾者报告的抑郁、状态焦虑和睡眠障碍更多。他们在某些测量中还显示出更高的收缩压和舒张压。此外，心率升高与照顾时间有关。
照顾压力源与相当大的心理脆弱性、睡眠障碍以及心血管系统改变的风险相关，这些似乎受到照顾特征的调节。
本研究表明，对照顾者进行心理和身体症状及障碍筛查非常重要。对终末期癌症照顾者负担的认识可能会导致及时主动的预防干预他们的身心健康，以减少负面后果。
