Correlation Between the Frailty of Elderly Patients on Regular Haemodialysis and the Quality of Life of Their Family Caregivers: A Cross-Sectional Evaluation

Zhu Zhu,1 Ping Li,2 Dongxue Chai,2 Wei Luan3 1Department of VIP Clinic, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200127, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Hemodialysis Center, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200127, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of VIP Medical Office, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200127, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Wei Luan, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 160 of Pujian Road, Pudong District, Shanghai, 200127, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86 21 6838 3088, Email luanwei_2022@126.comObjective: To investigate the correlation between the frailty status of elderly patients on regular haemodialysis and the quality of life of their family caregivers.Methods: 90 elderly patients with regular haemodialysis and 90 family caregivers of the respective patients were selected from January 2020 to April 2021. The influencing factors of the caregivers’ quality of life and correlation between patient debility and caregiver quality of life were analyzed by general information questionnaire, Tilburg debility index scale, self-care ability scale, family caregiver-related quality-of-life scale and social support scale.Results: The quality of life of the family caregivers of elderly patients on regular haemodialysis is at the medium level (4.50 ± 2.96). Multiple linear stepwise regression analysis shows that the ability of patients to take care of themselves, the degree of patients’ weaknesses, whether they care for non-dialysis patients, the time to care for patients, social support and the type of current residence have significant impacts on the quality of life of the caregivers (p < 0.001). Variance analysis showed that the fitting degree of linear regression equation is relatively high, and the regression equation is significant (F = 9.195, p < 0.001, R = 0.595, R2 = 0.315). The quality of life of caregivers is positively correlated with the ability of the patients to take care of themselves, the length of care, social support and type of current residence (p < 0.05). The degree of weakness in patients is negatively correlated with taking care of non-regular dialysis patients (p < 0.05).Conclusion: The ability of patients to take care of themselves, the degree of weakness of the patients, social support and the type of current residence are the influencing factors of the burden on the family caregivers of maintenance haemodialysis patients.Keywords: maintenance haemodialysis, elderly patients, caregiver, quality of life