Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
Lancet Public Health. 2022 Sep;7(9):e787-e796. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(22)00161-X.
The health of those who care for someone with a health condition or advanced age is poorer, on average, than non-carers. However, the health of young carers (<18 years of age) has been under-researched, especially in quantitative studies. This systematic review aimed to summarise studies assessing the mental and physical health of young carers. 1162 unique studies were screened and 14 associations between being a young carer and health were identified (two studies were treated as a single unit of analysis as they had information from the same sample). Most of the included studies were done in the UK, with the remaining studies done in the USA, Canada, Australia, and Austria. A cross-European study of 21 countries was also included. Five of the included studies investigated both mental and physical health outcomes, seven studies investigated only mental health outcomes, and one study investigated only physical health outcomes of being a young carer. All of the included studies, except one, were cross-sectional in design. Most studies found that young carers had poorer physical and mental health, on average, than their non-caregiving peers. However, the evidence is relatively weak and more quantitative research is needed, particularly research that is longitudinal in design and assesses physical health outcomes.
与有健康问题或高龄的人一起生活的照顾者的健康状况通常比非照顾者差。然而，年轻照顾者（<18 岁）的健康状况研究不足，尤其是在定量研究中。本系统综述旨在总结评估年轻照顾者心理健康和身体健康的研究。共筛选出 1162 项独特的研究，并确定了 14 项与成为年轻照顾者和健康之间的关联（由于两项研究来自同一样本，因此将其视为一个单一的分析单元）。大多数纳入的研究是在英国进行的，其余的研究在美国、加拿大、澳大利亚和奥地利进行。还包括一项针对 21 个国家的跨欧研究。其中五项研究调查了心理健康和身体健康结果，七项研究仅调查了心理健康结果，一项研究仅调查了成为年轻照顾者的身体健康结果。除一项外，所有纳入的研究均为横断面设计。大多数研究发现，年轻照顾者的身心健康状况平均比非照顾者差。然而，证据相对较弱，需要更多的定量研究，特别是设计为纵向并评估身体健康结果的研究。
