Prolonged grief disorder in family caregivers after oncology palliative care: a cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Background: Family caregivers may experience prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and depressive symptoms after a relative's death.

Objective: To estimate PGD prevalence and identify associated factors among family caregivers of patients who died in an oncology palliative care unit.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 80 family caregivers interviewed at least six months after the patient's death. Assessments included sociodemographic and perceived support questionnaires, the PG-13 instrument, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Adjusted associations with PGD were estimated using hierarchical binary logistic regression.

Results: PGD prevalence was 25.0% (20/80; 95% CI 16.0-35.9), and moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms were observed in 32.5% (26/80) of caregivers. In the final adjusted model, higher odds of PGD were associated with female patient sex (OR = 16.47, 95% CI 1.30-208.80; p = 0.031) and moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms (OR = 78.77, 95% CI 7.63-812.79; p < 0.001). Lower odds were associated with routine physical activity (OR = 0.07, 95% CI 0.01-0.84; p = 0.036) and perceived bereavement support (OR = 0.13, 95% CI 0.02-0.76; p = 0.024).

Conclusion: PGD affected one quarter of caregivers and was strongly associated with depressive symptom severity. Routine physical activity and perceived bereavement support were associated with lower adjusted odds of PGD. The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference.