ORIGINAL PAPERS Family Medicine & Primary Care Review 2021; 23(1): 29–35 © Copyright by Wydawnictwo Contnuo Health-related quality of life and caregiver’s burden in patents with chronic diseases: a cross-sectonal study SEYEDMOHAMMAD MIRHOSSEINI 1, A, B, E , MILAD BAZGHALEH 2, A, E , ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1255-2219 MOHAMMAD HASAN BASIRINEZHAD 3, C, D , ALI ABBASI 2, E, F , HOSSEIN EBRAHIMI 4, E, F 1 Student Research Commitee, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 2 Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran 3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatstcs, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 4 Center for Health Related Social and Behavioral Sciences Research, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran A – Study Design, B – Data Collecton, C – Statstcal Analysis, D – Data Interpretaton, E – Manuscript Preparaton, F – Literature Search, G – Funds Collecton Background. Cancer and type 2 diabetes (T2D), as two groups of prevalent chronic diseases, are associated with diferent social, economic and emotonal consequences, and they can change the quality of life (QoL) of their caregivers. Objectves. The aim of the present study was to determine the relatonship between QoL and the burden on caregivers of patents with cancer and T2D. Material and methods. This comparatve cross-sectonal study was conducted on 308 caregivers of patents with cancer and T2D. Data collecton tools included a demographic characteristcs form, SF-36 quality of life form and care burden inventory (Novak and Guest). Data was collected using the convenience sampling method. Data analysis was then carried out using descriptve and inferental stats- tcs (linear backward stepwise regression method). Results. The mean age of the caregivers of patents with cancer and T2D was 41.30 ± 13.12 and 41.86 ± 12.78 years, respectvely. There was no signifcant diference between the mean score of care burden and QoL in the two groups of caregivers. There was a signifcant direct relatonship between caregivers’ QoL and caregivers' disease and a signifcant inverse relatonship between caregivers’ educa- ton and caring burden. Conclusions. Caregivers of patents with chronic diseases sufer from care burden, which negatvely afects their QoL; thus, it is recom- mended to reduce the care burden, increasing their QoL by providing appropriate mental, psychological, and social support. Due to the negatve impact of caring burden on caregivers’ QoL, care services for chronic patents in developing countries should be strengthened. Key words: quality of life, caregivers, chronic disease. Summary ISSN 1734-3402, eISSN 2449-8580 This is an Open Access artcle distributed under the terms of the Creatve Commons Atributon-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Internatonal (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). License (htp://creatvecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). Mirhosseini S, Bazghaleh M, Basirinezhad MH, Abbasi A, Ebrahimi H. Health-related quality of life and caregiver’s burden in patents with chronic diseases: a cross-sectonal study. Fam Med Prim Care Rev 2021; 23(1): 29–35, doi: https://doi.org/10.5114/fmpcr.2021.103184. https://doi.org/10.5114/fmpcr.2021.103184 Background The rapid development of community dynamics, changes in lifestyle and environment and aging of the populaton have caused chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as stroke, coro- nary heart disease, cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dys- lipidemia, obesity and chronic lung disease, to become the main cause of death worldwide [1]. The term ‘chronic disease’ here cov- ers a wide range of professional communites (i.e. medical, public health, academic and politcal). For example, the Center for Dis- ease Control (CDC) classifes heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes (T2D), obesity and arthrits as chronic diseases [2]. Three- -ffhs of deaths are atributable to four major non-communicable cardiovascular diseases, i.e. cancer, chronic lung diseases and dia- betes [3]. The World Health Organizaton (WHO) estmates that 60% of all deaths can be atributed to chronic diseases, of which 70% occur in low and middle-income countries [4]. NCDs killed 287 thousand people in Iran in 2016. The ris- ing trend of the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) over the past decades poses a serious threat to Iran. Not only do NCDs lead to premature death, but they also cause signifcant dis- abilites [5, 6]. Among chronic diseases are diabetes and cancer, which have been on the rise in recent years [7, 8]. Chronic dis- eases, including chronic physical and mental illness, while altering certain aspects of a patent’s life, while altering certain aspects of a patents life impose diferent diseases, responsibilites and difcultes on their families and caregivers at home or in hospital [9, 10]. Caring burden is one of these difcultes, which is defned as a type of distress that caregivers experience while providing care for their patents [11]. Caring burden afects caregivers’ quality of life (QoL) and may reduce care services or deteriorate conditons for patents with chronic illnesses. The deterioraton of the patent’s conditon can increase the caring burden and cause a vicious cycle, and if tmely interventon is not made, it may drive caregivers to a gradual burnout [12]. QoL is a multdimensional concept that is dependent on many aspects, such as cultural, social, economic and environ- mental factors. The perennial burden of the disease and patent care exerts negatve efects on caregivers’ QoL. As the need for family caregivers is on the increase, more studies must be carried out on the QoL of these caregivers [13]. Many factors afect caregivers’ QoL, including caregivers’ age, level of educa- ton, religious beliefs, emotonal distress, insurance coverage, as