Objective: To study the presence of physical and psychological morbidity in the main carers of patients in home care programmes.
Design: A descriptive crossover study with a control group.
Setting: Primary care.
Patients: The study group consisted of 79 main carers of patients in the home care programme. The control group was 82 people, paired by age and sex, and chosen at random from the list of individual health cards.
Measurements and main results: 84.8% of carers were women, with mean age 58.7 +/- 11.6, and 45.1% were daughters of the invalid, with an average 7.6 +/- 7.9 years as carer. 78.5% had some chronic illness related to stress versus 59.8% in the control group (p = 0.01). 69.6% had psychological malaise connected with anxiety, and 43% connected with depression, versus 45.1% (p = 0.002) and 25.6% (p = 0.02), respectively, in the control group. There were no significant differences in mean frequency of attendance over the preceding 6 months between carers and controls (3.7 +/- 3.8 versus 3 +/- 4.6 times).
Conclusions: There is a significantly greater amount of psychological malaise related to anxiety and depression among carers than in the control group. Many of them may be untreated. Carers have significantly more chronic illnesses, possibly related to stress, than the control group and receive little help in their work. However, they do not generate greater demand for medical care than the control group.