Assessment of stress in caregivers of acutely hospitalized elderly and its relation to hospital outcomes

Abstract

It is important to understand and identify the physical and emotional strain among caregivers of the elderly as caregivers may have much more strain and burden than non-caregivers, which subsequently may affect their well-being and the clinical outcome of the elderly they are caring for. To assess caregiver stress and its effect on hospital outcomes at the geriatric department in Ain Shams University Hospitals, a cross-sectional study was done that included adults, aged ≥ 60 years, hospitalized for treatment of acute medical conditions and their accompanied caregivers where the patients were subjected to complete comprehensive geriatric assessment while cares givers’ stress was assessed using Caregiver Self-Assessment Questionnaire. Many elderly were found to need caregivers and the need increased with age as well as multiple comorbidities especially dementia, delirium, and urinary incontinence. Stress prevalence among caregivers is high (85%) and it increases with the age of the patients and the patient having several comorbidities such as cancer, neurological diseases, and sleep problems. Stress was also associated with high mortality of patients. As there is an increase in the elderly population with a subsequent increase in the need for caregivers who suffer from caregiver stress, more studies are needed in the future to highlight this problem and find ways to relieve caregivers’ stress.