Azeez Afina, Ambatipudi Srikant
Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
J Educ Health Promot. 2024 Dec 28;13:486. doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_273_24. eCollection 2024.
Hemodialysis (HD) patients require assistance from family caregivers in performing daily activities. This additional responsibility may cause caregivers to feel burdened, resulting in a poor quality of life. The current study envisaged assessing the degree of caregiver burden (CB) and quality of life among the primary caregivers of HD patients.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among conveniently sampled, consenting family caregivers ( = 200) of HD patients in tertiary care dialysis centers in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, from March 2022 to May 2022. A structured interview schedule was used to collect sociodemographic data from participants. The caregiver burden and quality of life were assessed using the Zarit Burden Interview and the World Health Organization (WHO) Quality of Life (QoL) BREF scale. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the association between the variables.
Fifty-eight percent of the caregivers reported CB. Caregivers with no leisure time (ORadj = 3.29 [95% CI: 1.73-6.41]), perceived financial stress (OR = 2.27 [95% CI: 1.16-4.49]), and having comorbidities (OR = 2.92 [95% CI: 1.43-6.12]) had an increased odds of experiencing caregiver burden. The CB score was inversely correlated with all domains of QoL. Moreover, the QoL score was lower among family caregivers with CB than those without CB.
The present study highlights a high prevalence of caregiver burden, which negatively impacts the QoL of family caregivers of HD patients. This study opens up new directions for possible policy-making to reduce caregiver burden and improve the QoL of family caregivers.
血液透析（HD）患者在进行日常活动时需要家庭照顾者的协助。这项额外的责任可能会使照顾者感到负担沉重，从而导致生活质量下降。本研究旨在评估HD患者主要照顾者的照顾负担（CB）程度和生活质量。
2022年3月至2022年5月，在印度喀拉拉邦特里凡得琅的三级护理透析中心，对方便抽样的200名同意参与的HD患者家庭照顾者进行了一项横断面研究。使用结构化访谈问卷收集参与者的社会人口学数据。使用Zarit照顾负担访谈量表和世界卫生组织（WHO）生活质量（QoL）简表来评估照顾者负担和生活质量。进行单因素和多因素分析以确定变量之间的关联。
58%的照顾者报告有照顾负担。没有休闲时间的照顾者（调整后比值比[ORadj]=3.29[95%置信区间：1.73-6.41]）、感知到经济压力的照顾者（OR=2.27[95%置信区间：1.16-4.49]）以及患有合并症的照顾者（OR=2.92[95%置信区间：1.43-6.12]）经历照顾负担的几率增加。照顾负担评分与生活质量的所有领域呈负相关。此外，有照顾负担的家庭照顾者的生活质量评分低于没有照顾负担的照顾者。
本研究突出了照顾者负担的高患病率，这对HD患者家庭照顾者的生活质量产生了负面影响。这项研究为可能的政策制定开辟了新方向，以减轻照顾者负担并改善家庭照顾者的生活质量。
