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Psychological distress, health, and socio-economic factors in caregivers of terminally ill patients: a nationwide population-based cohort study

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Abstract

Purpose

At some point in life, most people become caregivers to a terminally ill relative. Previous studies have shown that many caregivers experience psychological distress and declining physical health, but these studies have predominantly been conducted in specialized palliative care settings. Therefore, caregiver studies with a population-based approach are needed. We aimed to describe socio-economic characteristics, situational factors, pre-loss grief symptoms, depressive symptoms, caregiver burden, and health status in a general population of caregivers to terminally ill patients.

Method

We conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study. Caregivers were systematically recruited through patients registered with drug reimbursement for terminal illness in 2012. Data on socio-economic characteristics was mainly obtained from Danish registries, whereas data on situational factors, distress, and health was measured in questionnaires.

Results

Of patients to responding caregivers (n = 3635), 89 % suffered from cancer, predominantly lung cancer (23 %). Of responding caregivers, 62 % were partners and 29 % were adult children. In total, one third of caregivers reported severe outcome, 15 % reported severe pre-loss grief symptoms, 16.1 % had moderate to severe depressive symptoms, and 12 % experienced high caregiver burden. Partners had the highest levels of pre-loss grief and depressive symptoms, while adult children reported the highest levels of caregiver burden.

Conclusions

From this cohort, which was estimated to be representative of caregivers to terminally ill relatives in the general population, we found high levels of pre-loss grief, depressive symptoms, and/or caregiver burden in one third of all caregivers. These findings call for increased focus on caregivers’ need of support.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to extend our profound gratitude towards patients and caregivers who participated in this study. Thanks to the staff at the Research Unit for General Practice, in particular IT specialist Hanne Beyer for setting up the database, professor Peter Vedsted and IT specialist Kaare Rud Flarup for providing us with access to the registry data from the Cancer in Primary and Secondary Sector (CAPS) database, statistician Anders Helles Carlsen for statistical assistance, and language editor Lone Niedziella for proof reading the manuscript.

This work was supported by the Danish Cancer Society, the Danish foundation TrygFonden, and the Danish Health Foundation (Helsefonden).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit for General Practice, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 2, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Mette Kjaergaard Nielsen, Flemming Bro & Mai-Britt Guldin

  2. The Palliative Team, Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Noerrebrogade 44, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Mette Asbjoern Neergaard & Mai-Britt Guldin

  3. Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Noerrebrogade 44, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Anders Bonde Jensen

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  1. Mette Kjaergaard Nielsen
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  2. Mette Asbjoern Neergaard
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mette Kjaergaard Nielsen.

Ethics declarations

According to the Committee on Health Research Ethics of the Central Denmark Region, the Danish Act on Research Ethics Review of Health Research Projects did not apply to this study as questionnaire surveys generally do not require ethical clearance. The study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency (File no. 2013–41-2603).

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Nielsen, M.K., Neergaard, M.A., Jensen, A.B. et al. Psychological distress, health, and socio-economic factors in caregivers of terminally ill patients: a nationwide population-based cohort study. Support Care Cancer 24, 3057–3067 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3120-7

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