Shahi Varun, Lapid Maria I, Kung Simon, Atherton Pamela J, Sloan Jeff A, Clark Matthew M, Rummans Teresa A
Mayo Medical School, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
Department of Psychiatry & Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
J Geriatr Oncol. 2014 Jul;5(3):331-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jgo.2014.03.003. Epub 2014 Apr 14.
There are significant burdens associated with providing care for loved ones with cancer. However, caregiver quality of life (QOL) is often overlooked. With the increasing number of older adults with cancer, it is important to determine whether a patient's age and QOL have any association with the caregiver's QOL. The objective of our study was to describe caregiver QOL and explore whether patient age and other psychosocial factors impact caregiver QOL.
Baseline information from patients with advanced cancer undergoing radiation and their caregivers, who were enrolled in a randomized, controlled clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a structured, multidisciplinary QOL intervention, was analyzed for this study. Caregivers completed the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC) Scale. Both patients and caregivers completed the Linear Analogue Self-Assessment (LASA) to measure QOL, and Profile of Mood States (POMS) to measure mood states.
Overall, 131 patient-caregiver pairs participated in the study. At baseline, caregivers of older adults (≥65years) had higher mental (P=0.01), emotional (P=0.003), spiritual (P<0.01), and social support (P=0.03) LASA QOL scores. Caregivers of older adults also had higher baseline QOL (CQOLC, P=0.003) and mood (POMS, P=0.04) than caregivers of younger adults. Caregivers of patients with higher LASA QOL scores had higher overall (P=0.02), mental (P=0.006), physical (P=0.02), emotional (P=0.002), and spiritual LASA QOL scores (P=0.047).
Caregivers of older adults with advanced cancer demonstrated better QOL and fewer mood disturbances compared to caregivers of younger patients. When patients have good QOL, caregivers also had good QOL.
照顾患癌亲人会带来巨大负担。然而，照顾者的生活质量（QOL）常常被忽视。随着患癌老年人数量的增加，确定患者年龄和生活质量是否与照顾者的生活质量存在关联很重要。我们研究的目的是描述照顾者的生活质量，并探讨患者年龄和其他心理社会因素是否会影响照顾者的生活质量。
本研究分析了参加一项随机对照临床试验以测试结构化多学科生活质量干预效果的晚期癌症放疗患者及其照顾者的基线信息。照顾者完成了癌症照顾者生活质量指数（CQOLC）量表。患者和照顾者均完成了线性模拟自我评估（LASA）以测量生活质量，以及情绪状态剖面图（POMS）以测量情绪状态。
总体而言，131对患者-照顾者参与了研究。在基线时，老年人（≥65岁）的照顾者在心理（P=0.01）、情感（P=0.003）、精神（P<0.01）和社会支持（P=0.03）方面的LASA生活质量得分更高。老年人的照顾者在基线时的生活质量（CQOLC，P=0.003）和情绪（POMS，P=0.04）也高于年轻患者的照顾者。LASA生活质量得分较高的患者的照顾者在总体（P=0.02）、心理（P=0.006）、身体（P=0.02）、情感（P=0.002）和精神LASA生活质量得分（P=0.047）方面更高。
与年轻患者的照顾者相比，晚期癌症老年患者的照顾者表现出更好的生活质量和更少的情绪困扰。当患者生活质量良好时，照顾者的生活质量也良好。
