The Cost of Informal Caregiving

According to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan, elderly people who have recently undergone treatment for cancer often need significant care from family members, which translates nationally into an often-overlooked cost of nearly $1 billion a year.

Writing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dr. James Hayman and colleagues reported that such informal, family caregiving costs are "substantial" and should be taken into account when estimating the overall cost of cancer treatment for the elderly.

"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, who often provide this unpaid informal care, and motivate them to identify those patients and caregivers in need of additional support," said Hayman. He added that this caregiving burden will become increasingly problematic as the country's elderly population doubles over the next 30 years.

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 been treated for cancer within the last year were receiving about 10 hours of informal care each week, compared to 6.9 hours for those with no cancer and 6.8 for those who had cancer but were no longer being treated.

Overall, the study found that elderly family members with cancer who received treatment in the last year received an average of 3.1 more hours of informal care per week, which translates into an additional average yearly cost of $1,200 per patient and about $1 billion nationally.

The researchers also noted another trend that may heighten this burden on family caregivers: More and more cancer treatments are being delivered on an outpatient basis instead of during a hospital stay, meaning patients may need more help at home-care that is usually given 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," added co-author Dr. Kenneth Langa. "We must also consider the associated burdens on family members."

SOURCES:
Journal of Clinical Oncology, July 1, 2001; 19(13):3219-3225
University of Michigan Medical System (http://www.med.umich.edu)

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