Quality of life and burden in carers for persons with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease receiving oxygen therapy

OBJECTIVE: to assess the quality of life and burden of caregivers to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease patients on Long-Term Oxygen Therapy and to investigate the factors influencing this burden. METHOD: this is an analytical, cross-sectional study of 80 persons with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease on Long-Term Oxygen Therapy who used the specialized outpatient center of the Federal University of São Paulo, and their carers. The following instruments were used: Medical Outcomes Studies 36 (SF-36), Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS) and the Katz Index, along with socio-demographic and clinical variables. RESULTS: the most compromised scores on the carers' quality of life questionnaire were for Vitality and Mental Health. On the Caregiver Burden Scale, the domain which created the greatest burden for carers was the Environment. With the exception of Emotional Involvement, all the domains of quality of life were affected negatively by the domains of caregiver burden. CONCLUSION: it was shown that carers' quality of life was compromised and that they were overburdened with care tasks, confirming that assisting persons with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is an important element in carers' quality of life.