1. Caregiver burden by treatment and clinical characteristics of patients with glioblastoma
- Author
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Au, Trang H, Willis, Connor, Reblin, Maija, Peters, Katherine B, Nghiemphu, Phioanh Leia, Taylor, Jennie W, Colman, Howard, Cohen, Adam L, Ormond, D Ryan, Chakravarti, Arnab, Willmarth, Nicole, Menon, Jyothi, Ma, Junjie, Bauer, Hillevi, Watanabe, Alexandre H, Ulrich, Cornelia M, Singh, Prianka, Marshall, Alexander, Korytowsky, Beata, Stenehjem, David, and Brixner, Diana
- Subjects
Health Services and Systems ,Nursing ,Health Sciences ,Brain Disorders ,Rare Diseases ,Behavioral and Social Science ,Brain Cancer ,Cancer ,Clinical Research ,Aging ,Management of diseases and conditions ,7.1 Individual care needs ,Good Health and Well Being ,Adolescent ,Adult ,Caregiver Burden ,Caregivers ,Cost of Illness ,Glioblastoma ,Humans ,Quality of Life ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,GBM ,Caregiver ,Cognitive dysfunction ,Medical and Health Sciences ,Psychology and Cognitive Sciences ,Oncology & Carcinogenesis ,Biomedical and clinical sciences ,Health sciences ,Psychology - Abstract
BackgroundGlioblastoma is an incurable disease with a poor prognosis. For caregivers of people with glioblastoma, the burden of care can be high. Patients often present with different clinical characteristics, which may impact caregiver burden in different ways. This study aimed to evaluate associations between patient clinical characteristics and caregiver burden/quality of life (QoL).MethodsCaregiver-patient dyads were enrolled at 7 academic cancer centers in the United States. Eligible caregiver participants were self-reported as the primary caregiver of an adult living with glioblastoma and completed a caregiver burden survey. Eligible patients were age ≥ 18 years at glioblastoma diagnosis and alive when their respective caregiver entered the study, with the presence of cognitive dysfunction confirmed by the caregiver. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and multivariable analyses.ResultsThe final cohort included 167 dyads. Poor patient performance status resulted in patient difficulty with mental tasks, more caregiving tasks, and increased caregiving time. Language problems were reported in patients with left-sided lesions. Patient confusion was negatively associated with all caregiver domains: emotional health, social health, general health, ability to work, confidence in finances, and overall QoL. Better caregiver QoL was observed in patients with frontal lobe lesions versus non-frontal lobe lesions.ConclusionThis study reinforced that patient performance status is a critical clinical factor that significantly affects caregiver burden, caregiving tasks, and caregiver time. Additionally, patient confusion affects multiple facets of caregiver burden/QoL. These results could be used to support guided intervention for caregiver support, customized to the patient experience.
- Published
- 2022