(782) Factors Associated With Caregiver Burden Among Family Members of ICU Survivors

Introduction: Caring for an intensive care unit (ICU) survivor can be challenging for family members after hospital discharge. Caregiver burden (CB) is described as a multifaceted strain and its factors have been widely studied among caregivers of dependent patients with different conditions but to a lesser degree among caregivers of ICU survivors.

Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted among caregivers of ICU survivors enrolled in a cohort study. Caregivers of patients with 3-10 days of ICU stay and respiratory support provided data 3 months after hospital discharge. The PHQ-4 (anxiety/depressive symptoms), IES-6 (post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms), SF-36 Vt (vitality), MEFO (cognitive function), BRCS (resilience), mMOS-SSS (social support), and ZBI (caregiver burden) were administered. Spearman´s correlations were performed to identify associations between constructs and ZBI scores while the Mann-Whitney U test was used to explore differences between caregivers with CB (ZBI≥17) and those without CB.

Results: We included 57 caregivers with a mean age of 48.6 years (SD=12.5), 80.7% were female. CB was identified in 40.2% of subjects. The patient’s median SOFA score was 4 (IQR=3), 85.2% were mechanically ventilated, and had a median ICU stay of 17 days (IQR=12). Subjects’ ZBI scores were positively associated with anxiety/depressive symptoms (r=0.765, p< 0.001) and PTSD symptoms (r=0.705, p< 0.001). Conversely, a negative association was found with vitality (r=-0.63, p< 0.001) and social support (r=-0.55, p< 0.001). Then, subjects identified as with CB shown higher scores than their counterparts without CB for the PHQ-4 (Mdn=8 v/s 2, p< 0.001) and IES-6 (Mdn=2.17 v/s 0.67, p< 0.001) but lower scores for SF-36 Vt (Mdn=37.5 v/s 68.8, p< 0.001), BRCS (Mdn=16 v/s 17.5, p=0.049) and mMOS-SSS (Mdn=81.3 v/s 100, p< 0.001). No association or difference was found between cognitive function and ZBI scores or CB status (p>0.05).

Conclusions: Caregiving for an ICU survivor may be associated with psychological and physical impairments, possibly mediated by reduced social support and resilience. Despite being similar to caregivers of other populations, further studies are required to identify CB factors that could be unique to caregivers of ICU survivors.