Complementing Traditional Care with Family Care

According to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the costs involved in caring for elderly family members with cancer are more significant than most people realize-totaling nearly $1 billion a year nationwide, according to a team of researchers from the University of Michigan. And these costs will continue to increase as the elderly population in the U.S. doubles over the next 30 years.

The researchers, led by Dr. James Hayman, found that informal-or family-caregiving costs are "substantial," if not potentially overwhelming. In the study, 7,443 people aged 70 and older from across the United States were surveyed. Of those, 6,422 reported having no history of cancer, 718 had been diagnosed with cancer but had not been treated for it within the past year, and 303 had a diagnosis of cancer and received treatment within the last year.

After controlling for health status and level of disability, those who reported that they had received treatment for cancer within the last year were receiving about 10 hours of informal care each week from their families, compared to 6.9 hours for those with no cancer, and 6.8 for those who'd had cancer but were no longer being treated.

Overall, the study found that the additional cost associated with caring for an elderly family member with cancer averaged $1,200 more per year. Furthermore, the researchers noted another trend that may place an additional burden on family caregivers-significantly more cancer treatments are being delivered on an outpatient basis instead of during a hospital stay. This translates into more care at home, a burden that is usually shouldered by family members.

"If we really want to know the full costs of cancer treatment in the elderly, we can't just look at hospital and doctor bills," said co-author Dr. Kenneth Langa. "We must also consider the associated burdens on family members."

The bottom line, added Hayman, is that as the population ages, and as more and more cancer care is transferred from the inpatient to the outpatient setting, "interventions targeted at family caregivers will be needed to ease the economic, psychological and physical burdens of caregiving."

"We hope that the results of our study will make clinicians more aware of the burdens that cancer treatment places on their elderly patients' families," said Hayman, "and motivate them to identify those patients and caregivers in need of additional support."

SOURCES:
Journal of Clinical Oncology, June 29, 2001
University of Michigan Medical Center (http://www.med.umich.edu)

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