Health-Related Quality of Life in a National Sample of Caregivers: Findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Purpose Recent national public health agendas, such as Healthy People 2010, call for improved public health surveillance and health promotion programs for people with disabilities and their caregivers. The goal of this study was to understand the public health impact of caregiving on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using population-level data. Design & Methods A cross-sectional study design was used. 184,450 adults surveyed during the 2000 national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey formed the sample. Binary logistic regression models ascertained differences between caregivers and noncaregivers in reporting reduced (‘‘fair’’ or ‘‘poor’’) health. Ordinary least squares regression (OLS) and multinomial logistic regression models examined the influence of caregiving status on HRQoL, measured as categories of healthy days reported in the last 30 days and the number of days reported as physical and mental health not good in the last 30 days. Results Sixteen percent (16%) of the survey respondents were caregivers. There was an interaction effect between caregiving status and age of the caregiver. In the fully adjusted models, caregivers \55 years old had a 35% increased risk of having fair or poor health (odds ratio [OR] = 1.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28, 1.43) as compared to noncaregivers in that age group, while caregivers 55 years and older had a 3% decreased risk in having fair or poor health (OR = 0.97, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.92, 1.03) compared B. Neugaard (&) James A. Haley VA Medical Center, 13000 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. (MS 111-A), Tampa, FL 33612, USA e-mail: [email protected] B. Neugaard E. Andresen S. L. McKune E. W. Jamoom College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida Health Sciences Center, PO Box 100231, Gainesville, FL 32610-0231, USA E. Andresen e-mail: [email protected] S. L. McKune e-mail: [email protected] E. W. Jamoom e-mail: [email protected] 123 J Happiness Stud (2008) 9:559–575 DOI 10.1007/s10902-008-9089-2