Burden among caregivers of elderly patients with osteoarthritis of hip joint

The present study was conducted to investigate burden among caregivers of patients with osteoarthritis of hip joint. Caregivers and their elderly patients with osteoarthritis of hip joint were compared with caregivers and their frail elderly who received regular nurse visits or caregivers and their non-demented frail elderly with regular nurse visits. The patients with osteoarthritis of hip joint had less disability to perform ADL than the frail elderly with regular nurse visits. The caregivers of the patients spent less time on both caregiving and attending patients, and showed the shorter duration of caregiving than those of the frail elderly with regular nurse visits. They were less likely to consult with physicians for their own health and less likely to become ill health, and felt less burden than the caregivers of the frail elderly with regular nurse visits although they used less kinds of social services than their controls. Since none of patients with osteoarthritis of hip joint suffered from dementia, the non-demented frail elderly with regular nurse visits were used as another control. But the results did not changed. These finding suggest that caregivers of less disability to perform ADL may feel light burden when the patients do not suffer from dementia.