Caregiver burden and health-related quality of life among family caregivers of oesophageal cancer patients: a prospective nationwide cohort study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flowchart of study inclusion.

Table 1. Characteristics of family caregivers of patients with oesophageal cancer with low high-moderate caregiver burden.

		All	Low caregiver burden	High-moderate caregiver burden
Characteristics	Categorization	Number (%)	Number (%)	Number (%)
In total		319 (100)	218 (68)	101 (32)
Age^a	<65 years	148 (47)	96 (44)	52 (51)
	≥65 years	169 (53)	120 (56)	49 (49)
Sex	Men	44 (14)	32 (15)	12 (12)
	Women	275 (86)	186 (85)	89 (88)
Education level^b	≤9 years	43 (15)	30 (15)	13 (14)
	>9 years	247 (85)	165 (85)	82 (86)
Relationship to	Spouse	261 (83)	183 (85)	78 (77)
the patient^c	Child	27 (9)	14 (7)	13 (13)
	Others	28 (9)	18 (8)	10 (10)

Missing information: ^a2 missing; ^b29 missing; ^c3 missing.

Table 2. Caregiver burden scores in family caregivers of patients 1 year after oesophageal cancer surgery presented as numbers and proportions.

	Low caregiver burden		High – moderate caregiver burden
	Number (%)	Mean scores	Number (%)	Mean scores
Caregiver burden scale
General strain	195 (61)	1.45	124 (39)	2.60
Isolation	176 (55)	1.46	143 (45)	2.58
Disappointment	197 (62)	1.48	122 (38)	2.38
Emotional involvement	204 (64)	1.42	114 (36)	2.34
Environment	264 (83)	1.28	55 (17)	1.82

CI: confidence intervals; mean scores range from 0 to 4; low caregiver burden = 1.00–1.99, high-moderate caregiver burden = 2.00–3.99.

Table 3. Associations between caregiver burden and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress in family caregivers of oesophageal cancer survivors, presented as numbers (%), odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

		Caregiver burden
	Number of cases (%)	Unadjusted OR (95% CI)	Adjusted OR^a (95% CI)
Anxiety and depression	317
HADS-Anxiety < 8	237 (75)	1.0 Reference	1.0 Reference
HADS-Anxiety ≥ 8	80 (25)	5.77 (3.34–9.95)	5.53 (3.18–9.62)
HADS-Depression < 8	281 (89)	1.0 Reference	1.0 Reference
HADS-Depression ≥ 8	36 (11)	8.55 (3.84–19.03)	8.56 (3.80–19.29)
Posttraumatic stress	316
IES-R < 24	216 (68)	1.0 Reference	1.0 Reference
IES-R ≥ 24	100 (32)	4.97 (2.97–8.33)	5.39 (3.17–9.17)

HADS: hospital anxiety and depression scale; IES-R: impact of event scale-revised; Low caregiver burden = 1.00–1.99, high-moderate caregiver burden = 2.00–3.99.

^aAdjusted by age and sex.

Table 4. Caregiver burden and HRQL (RAND-36) in family caregivers to oesophageal cancer of oesophageal cancer survivors, presented as mean scores (MS) and mean score differences (MSD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

	Low caregiver burden	High-moderate caregiver burden
	MS (95% CI)	MS (95% CI)	MSD (95% CI)
RAND-36
Physical function	84 (82–87)	78 (74–83)	5.8 (1.0–10.5)*
Role physical	81 (76–85)	60 (52–68)	20.8 (12.4–29.3)*
Bodily pain	73 (69–76)	63 (60–68)	9.9 (3.9–15.9)*
General health	75 (72–77)	64 (60–68)	10.8 (6.1–15.4)*
Vitality	72 (70–75)	52 (48–56)	20.3 (15.9–24.8)*
Social function	90 (87–92)	67 (62–71)	23.0 (18.5–27.6)*
Role emotional	87 (83–91)	59 (51–67)	27.8 (19.9–35.7)*
Mental health	82 (80–84)	62 (59–66)	19.7 (15.9–23.6)*

*Statistically significant differences p < .05, CI: confidence intervals; MS: mean scores; MSD: mean score differences.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon request by the corresponding author [AS].