Caregiver Burden and Quality of Life in Older Adults Receiving Home Care in an Andean Community of Peru

Ruiz-Sanchez E.M.; Navarrete-Mejía P.J. · Revista de Investigacion e Innovacion en Ciencias de la Salud (2026) · DOI: 10.46634/riics.574

Resumen

Introduction. Informal caregiver burden is a multidimensional phenomenon that may influence the well-being of dependent older adults. However, evidence regarding its relationship with quality of life in Andean community settings remains limited. Objective. To evaluate the association between caregiver burden and quality of life among older adults receiving home care in a high-Andean community in Peru, while recognizing that this relationship may be influenced by clinical, functional, nutrition-al, and contextual factors. Methods. A quantitative, correlational, nonexperimental, cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 281 older adult-caregiver dyads were evaluated, selected through simple random sampling. Quality of life was measured with the WHO-QOL-AGE, and caregiver burden with the Zarit Scale. Due to the non-normal distribution of the data, medians and interquartile ranges were reported. Bivariate analyses were performed using Spearman correlation and the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. In addition, an exploratory binary logistic regression model was fitted to evaluate the adjusted association between caregiver burden and inadequate quality of life. Results. Quality of life was inadequate in three-quarters of the sample, and more than half of the caregivers had some degree of burden. Quality-of-life scores differed significantly according to nutritional status and functional status (p < 0.05), whereas caregiver burden scores did not differ across the characteristics examined. No significant correlation was observed between older adults’ quality of life and caregiver burden (ρ = −0.079; p = 0.189). However, in an exploratory adjusted logistic regression model, caregiver burden was associated with higher odds of inadequate quality of life (adjusted OR = 1.868; 95% CI: 1.035–3.370; p = 0.038). Conclusion. In this population, the bivariate correlation between caregiver burden and quality-of-life scores was not statistically significant. Nevertheless, an exploratory adjusted logistic regression model suggested that caregiver burden may be associated with higher odds of inadequate quality of life. Given the cross-sectional design and the possibility of residual confounding, this finding should be interpreted cautiously and viewed as hypothesis-generating.

Instituciones: Universidad Continental