Abstract
Due to the limited number of palliative care centers in our country, most of the patients are receiving support by their caregivers in their own homes and usually from a family member. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between caregiving burden and depression in care givers of patients with advanced and end stage pulmonary disease.
Care givers of patients with hypoxemia and forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1) <50% or forced vital capacity (FVC) <40% were included in the study. The burden of care and the Beck depression questionnaires were applied to the primary caregivers of these patients.
A total of 54 patients (19 women) were included in the study. The median age of the patients was 51 (19-71) years. 24 patients (44.4%) were receiving supplemental non-invasive ventilation (NIV) support, while forty-five patients (83.3%) received more than 12 hours of oxygen therapy per day.
The average age of caregivers was 43.4±10.6 years and 48 (88.8%) were female. When Zarit and Beck scores were explored there was a significant positive correlation with duration of long term oxygen therapy (r=0.624, p<0,001; r= 0.582, p<0.001) and there was a significant negative correlation with 6MWT (r=-0,076 p<0.001; r=-0.692, p<0.001).
In patients with chronic respiratory failure, increased time spent with daily oxygen support poor functional capacity are associated with increasing caregiver burden and depressive symptoms in caregivers. Especially in these patient groups care givers need to be supported socially to be able to maintain the quality of the care.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2018 52: Suppl. 62, PA4158.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2018