Burden among caregivers of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with long-term oxygen therapy

Background and objectives: Although home-based health care of the patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is growing, burden of COPD caregivers has not been clarified. We investigated the burden among caregivers of elderly patients with COPD receiving long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 45 pairs of COPD patients with LTOT and their family caregivers. Caregivers answered a self-administered questionnaire about various factors that may affect their care-burden. They also completed Zarit care-burden interview and were divided into lightly burdened group and heavily burdened group based on the care-burden interview score. Results: Heavily burdened caregivers cared for their charges for a longer duration than lightly burdened caregivers. Compared with their counterparts, heavily burdened caregivers spent a longer time on caregiving and were less likely to be able to go out for 8 or more hours a day. Heavily burdened caregivers were more likely to attend the training class for caregiving, while the usage of other social services did not differ between heavily burdened and lightly burdened caregivers. Heavily burdened caregivers were more likely to want to use social services other than training class for caregiving while the proportion of caregivers who wanted to attend training class for caregiving did not differ between the two groups. Conclusion: More convenient services for severe COPD patients may improve the stress of caregivers for the COPD patients with LTOT.